The public lecture “Machine learning for the Internet of Things: Making Smart Things Smart” took place at VIASM on Friday, January 16, 2015. The purpose of the public lectures series at VIASM is to popularize the role of mathematics and its relation with other sciences. This time the theme was about applications of machine learning in Misfit Wearables’ products, and the speaker was the CEO of the corporation – Dr Sonny Vu.

Sonny Vu in his lecture at VIASM.

Misfit Wearables, also known as Misfit, is a hardware company that designs and manufactures wearable products that utilize sensor technology. Misfit was co-founded by Sonny Vu, Sridhar Iyengar and John Sculley. Sonny Vu and Sridhar Iyengar previously co-founded AgaMatrix, a company that made the iBGStar, the first FDA approved iPhone medical device. John Sculley is a former Apple CEO.

At the public lecture, Sonny Vu introduced about wearables technology and Misfit. He also shared his experience in business during 15 year starting up 3 firms and facing a lot of chellenges in developing their products. In the last part of the lecture, Sonny Vu and his R&D team talked about Misfit’s future areas of research and job opportunities at Misfit Vietnam.

Misfit’s first product, Shine, is an activity and sleep monitor that tracks user movements and activity levels to provide information on metrics including step count, calories burned, distance traveled, and number of hours of light and deep sleep via an Windows Phone, iOS and Android apps.  Misfit Shine has been quickly impressed customers by its accuracy and its elegant design. Misfit products are not only smart wearable health-tracking devices but also pretty multi-functional accessories.

Ngo Bao Chau (VIASM, middle), Sonny Vu, Tran Hoai Linh (HUST, second from the right) and two members of Misfit’s R&D team

The lecture attracted about 100 students, faculty members from universities and research insitutes as well as those who are interested in technology and business start-up.