Japan-based Moff is making a different kind of wearable device, one that’s not focused on tracking your walks and runs; instead, they pitches their wrist-worn device as a movement recognizing game controller for those looking to become and stay fit by playing games on their computers and TVs.

“Our goal is to change the relationship between humans and computers,” says founder Takahagi Akinori. “Our enemy is the screen user interface and we want to change that to a more perceptual user interface, with natural human activities and movements.”

The company has recently secured $1.3 million in seed funding to expand to the US market, with Bandai Namco Entertainment, Orso and TomyK providing the financial backing for this endeavor.

Right now, Moff is working with select content partners, but the plan is to launch an SDK every developer could use. It is their belief that a rich selection of games and other apps will help Moff stand apart from other fitness wearables.

Moff is working with select content partners, with plans to launch an SDK every developer could use.Initially, the company was targeting children three to 10 and has later changed its strategy to include adults to the mix, as well. It claims that Moff’s sensors and machine learning algorithms are better than competing technologies at recognizing changes in body movements. But they are not the only one with such technology — another player is Atlas Wearables.

In a similar vein we have the Razer Nabu band that is also designed as a game controller rather than a step-counting device.

It would be interesting to watch Moff competing for its share of the fast-growing wearables market. From what we can tell, the next generation of smart watches could get similar advanced movement tracking capabilities, and with prices of such watches going down – it will be increasingly hard to niche players to stay relevant. Except if their key selling point is lower price, but we’re not sure that’s the game the likes of Moff want to participate in…

[Via: TechCrunch]