Smart Fork shipments to begin for US and France customers

feeding

flickr- Joshua Rappenek...

HAPIfork, "the world's first smart connected fork", is made available to customers in France and the US.

The eating device was introduced in the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show and is being manufactured by HAPILABS, a company whose mission is to help individuals take control of their health and fitness through applications and mobile connected devices. 

French engineer Jacques Lépine designed the device with the intention of decreasing harmful eating habits. One of them is eating too quickly, which has been highlighted by various scientific studies that claim the speed of eating can contribute to weight gain, digestive problems and gastric reflux. 

The HAPIfork features a sensor that detects the speed of food intake with the intention of notifying the user when they are eating too fast. When this is the case, the HAPIfork sends gentle vibrations and indicator lights turn on, making users aware that they are not eating at a pace that is optimal for their health. 

The "intelligent cutlery" also monitors the amount of fork servings per minute, the specific duration of each fork serving interval and the complete meal time. The eating data is then sent to a personalized account once the device is connected to the computer or smartphone via USB or Bluetooth. 

The device is said to become available to customers in other countries by 2014.