"The world you don't have to struggle to sleep well, my goal is to create a solution that allows you to get the best sleep just by lying down."

This is the future drawn by Hong Joon-ki, co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO). A-Slip is a sleep technology company that analyzes sleep conditions with artificial intelligence (AI) after hearing the breath of a sleeping person through a smartphone. You don't have to set the air conditioner temperature and set the timer or turn off the lights before going to bed. From the moment you fall asleep to waking up fresh the next morning, AI adjusts the surrounding environment so that you can sleep most comfortably depending on your sleep condition.

◆ I stop working 30 minutes before I go to bed

CTO Hong said, "I thought I was sleeping pretty well, but when I measured it myself, there were many days when I couldn't sleep more than I expected. Looking at the data, I changed my lifestyle first," he said. It is typical to stop working 30 minutes before going to sleep. I talk to my wife, stretch lightly, and sometimes relax my body and head by listening to ASMR or sound content. It's not easy not to look at your smartphone at all before going to sleep, but I try to avoid short videos as much as 'shorts' that are constantly followed by short videos.

When he was a graduate student at KAIST, his first item was a lithium battery that had nothing to do with sleep. Although it has developed a technology that identifies the state of the battery with AI, potential customers such as manufacturers and electric vehicle companies do not seem to intend to purchase it. Rather than pinpointing the condition of the battery, they preferred to replace it quickly when needed.

One of the reasons to turn to the surface was the smart bed and pillow I saw at overseas exhibitions. There were many products that helped sleep well by adjusting the temperature or the height of the pillow, but the technology to understand "what kind of condition this person is now" was not noticeable. CTO Hong said, "I was just controlling without properly grasping the person's condition," and explained, "I thought that if I create a technology that can accurately know my sleep condition, I can really improve my sleep."

◆ Make a "smart bedroom" with high-tech technology

I didn't pay attention to the sound of breathing from the beginning. I found a way to measure my sleep without wearing something on my body like a watch or ring. We also used radar and tested how to put sensors in the mattress. Then, the collected sound data was trained on AI, and the sleep state was more accurately distinguished than expected. CTO Hong said, "When I looked directly at the data, I was able to confirm that the characteristics of breathing sound are clear at each stage, such as shallow sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep."

A-Slip consistently collected breathing data while performing multiple sleep tests. Currently, there are more than 10,000 data based on multiple sleep tests. Since sleep conditions are read every 30 seconds, there are more than 10 million data points that AI learns.

Where this technology is headed is 'So what?' It's not just an app that shows the score 'You slept well last night'. The "smart bedroom" is the goal of changing the bedroom environment by grasping the sleep condition in real time. For example, if you toss and turn and fall asleep, the temperature of the air conditioner is raised, and if you enter the sleep stage where your body temperature rises, it is lowered again. Lights, curtains, air purifiers, and humidifiers are also adjusted according to their sleeping conditions. CTO Hong said, "You can't take direct action while you're sleeping," adding, "AI can accurately grasp your sleep condition and give you various controls that fit that person." To this end, sleep technology should be extended to other industries. This is why we are collaborating with large construction companies, boiler companies, and bed companies.

◆ Including daylight activity data

What does "good sleep" look like that technology makes. After lying in bed, you fall asleep within 10 to 15 minutes and continue to sleep without waking up in the middle until the morning. If you are curious about whether you slept properly the previous day, you can also check your condition around 2 p.m., when your biorhythmic arousal falls once. If you feel lethargic and sleepy at this time of year, you'd better find a way to improve your sleep quality.

CTO Hong's eyes are going beyond the night to the realm of the day and the mind. It wants to expand into a technology that manages the health of the entire day by linking daytime activity data with sleep and further examining stress and psychological conditions. "Everyone sleeps, and sleep is directly related to health," he said. I want to look at the area where sleep can change with a longer and wider perspective," he said.

[Journalist Wang Hae Na / Photo by Reporter Kim Hoyoung]