This week’s Smart Health roundup features a fitness tracker that doubles as an SOS wearable, a wearable temperature and position tracker for babies and a new kit that will aid in medical research.

Fitkat – fitness tracker that motivates and protects you

In mid-February, a new fitness tracker called Fitkat launched on Indiegogo looking to raise $40,000. The startup is entering a crowded market, looking to differentiate with features beyond tracking activities, also serving as an SOS band.

Fitkat looks much like other fitness trackers available in the market today, and monitors water intake. It also displays notifications such as incoming calls, messages, email and tweets. But unlike most other fitness trackers, Fitkat comes with an SOS feature that allows users to automatically send their location to five selected guardians.

Aside from protecting users, Fitkat also has a Smart Coach and Guardian features that shares healthy living, motivating users all the while.

“We wanted to make something interactive and something really easy to use. A device that reminds / does everything for you. There are many apps with smart coach features, but again you don’t know who you are talking to, the fitness report you get from them doesn’t work all the time. That is why any fitness freak using any device can get on our platform and interact with one another,” Fitkat founder Chirag Jagtiani said in an email interview to SiliconANGLE.

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Baby Check

Baby Check is a new wearable baby monitor recently launched on Kickstarter. It tracks a baby’s temperature, position, sleep and medicine administration, with a companion app for iOS or Android devices.

Baby Check is designed to automatically connect with the Baby Check app using Bluetooth 4.0, and alerts of any changes to a baby’s temperature. The monitor is equipped with adjustable strap and is made up of medical grade materials. The goals behind this design is to provide maximum comfort for babies wearing the monitor for long periods of time.

All the data collected is stored in the app for remote access. Baby Check uses a changeable CR1625 battery that lasts up to 500 hours of use and when the monitor is disconnected from the app, and automatically powers off to conserve battery life. When it’s time to begin tracking again, simply shake the device to wake it up and start tracking temperature, position and other parameters again.

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Apple’s ResearchKit

During Apple’s Spring Forward event, the Cupertino giant introduced a new kit that would aid in medical research called ResearchKit. The initiative aims to aid in medical trials to provide better medical apps for consumers, as well as provide a way for patients and volunteers to sign up for studies and for medical researchers to get to know patients and volunteers better.

One of the first apps created using ResearchKit is mPower, created by the University of Rochester and Sage Bionetworks. mPower is an app created to aid in Parkinson’s disease research. The app can test for a person’s vocal cords, gait, tremor intensity and activity level. Other apps created with ResearchKit includes apps for  Diabetes, Breast Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease and Asthma. ResearchKit and HealthKit works hand in hand to create better health apps.

Image via Fitkat