Everything needs a smart equivalent these days, including your protective face masks. That’s why Razer’s Project Hazel is looking to revolutionise the mask and really make users feel like the cybergoths they always dreamed of becoming. While still only a concept, the idea behind Project Hazel is one that’s both cool and pretty ridiculous, which makes it even cooler in our books.
Razer has essentially made an N95 face mask equipped with more bells and whistles than an orchestra’s storeroom. Let’s run through everything Razer’s managed to cram into this mask: It’s got RGB lighting, active disc-type ventilators that can be detached and recharged, a microphone and amplifiers to boost the user’s voice through speakers on the ventilators and is made out of waterproof, recycled scratch-resistant plastic. It’s so dumb, it’s genius.
Razer’s edge medicine
With all those features, it’s amazing Razer isn’t selling this immediately (ignoring how expensive a mask like this probably is) but it still has some problems that need to be ironed out. While Project Hazel is meant to be a surgical N95 mask it still needs to go through all kinds of certifications before it can be sold as such. Speaking to The Verge, Razer noted that it was working alongside medical professionals to ensure that its masks met the standards set by government officials.
The actual lifespan of the ventilators is also being tested right now as Razer is unsure of how long they’ll be effective before requiring a replacement and how best to notify users of this (a mobile app is currently the winning idea). The installed ventilators reportedly filter out 95% of airborne particles, handy for living in a pandemic.
Razer also said that it envisions shipping the product in a charging case that sterilises the mask with UV light when not in use. This is all very conceptual at this point so don’t get too excited. Still, even we do manage to defeat this pandemic in the coming months we can see there being a market for a smart mask.
If you think this is weird, you should check out the credit card that Razer made last year which, of course, also lights up.
(Source: The Verge)