Amazon is investing in baby-tracking technology

Amazon’s Alexa Fund, which can provide up to $200m in funding to develop voice technology, has invested an undisclosed amount into Hatch Baby, a smart-nursery company and online forum for parents. Hatch Baby, which was featured on Shark Tank in 2016, has sold over 200,000 items on Amazon, including a smart diaper changing pad and smart light night.

Hatch Baby’s smart diaper changing pad can track data such as a baby’s weight with each use. The company also created a night light that can act as an alarm clock and noise machine, which is mainly used to track older children’s sleep habits. All information from both of these devices can be stored on the Hatch Baby app.

To further the partnership, Amazon has created a new API Baby Activity Skill for Alexa that is compatible with Hatch Baby’s technology and similar apps. Currently, the new voice skill will track weight, sleep, diaper changes, and infant feedings, but Amazon has plans to expand features. A parent can simply ask Alexa when was the last diaper change? or say Alexa, Lucy just woke up from a two-hour nap.

“Implementing the Baby Activity Skills API was straightforward and provides a lot of value to customers by making it easier for them to interact with our skill. The API does of the heavy lifting in handling the user interaction model, so that our code became very straightforward to implement,” said Ken DeLong, VP of software engineering at Hatch Baby.

“We see parenting and health and wellness as two areas where voice can make customers’ lives simpler,” said Paul Bernard, director of the Alexa Fund. “Hatch Baby has a clear vision of how Alexa and other Amazon services can help them better support parents.”