Intel Aims to get Inside Wearables with Curie

intel curie wearable chipIntel has unveiled a wearable processor called Curie which it hopes will be picked up by third-party developers creating the next wave of wearable technology.

The Curie is based on the companys 32-bit Quark SE SoC (system on chip), and is around the size of a button. It includes a low-energy Bluetooth transmitter and six-axis motion sensor for fitness tracking.

The Curie can run on a watch battery or rechargeable source, and has battery charging capabilities. It runs on the open source RTOS, making it a strong proposition for third-party developers looking to get into the wearables market without having to create their own chips.

Intel has already partnered with a number of companies in the wearables market, including SMS Audio, who produce fitness tracking earbuds.

As part of its presentation at CES 2015, the company also revealed a tiny HDMI-dongle PC, the Intel Compute Stick, which despite its tiny size, houses a quad-core Baytrail Atom processor with 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage and a Micro-USB slot for additional memory.

The firm also demonstrated new applications for its RealSense camera technology, adding it to drones to enable the airborne robots to build a 3D map of their surroundings in real-time and avoid hazards such as moving people and objects, as well as showing off a prototype holographic interface that creates the illusion of objects in mid-air and allows you to interact with them.

Finally, CEO Brian Krzanich announced the company was starting a Diversity in Technology initiative, aimed at achieving greater representation for women and minorities in technology companies.

Krzanich called on other members of the tech industry to join the company in its goal of representation matching the actual population makeup by 2020. The firm is pledging $300m (£198m) over the next five years as part of its goal, and is working with partners including the E-Sports League and the National Center for Women in Technology.