Nixie camera drone wins $500,000 Intel wearable tech prize

Chip firm crowns Make It Wearable Challenge winner

Intel has awarded the prizes for its Make It Wearable challenge, giving out $800,000 to three companies working on wearable technology that uses the Intel Edison chip.

The firm announced the challenge at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show, and called on interested parties to produce the best examples of innovative wearable technology.

The top $500,000 prize went to Nixie, a US company that has developed a drone-carried camera for action shots and sports and activity photography that can be worn on the wrist.

Intel said that the firm will use the money to bring the Nixie to market. The drone can be seen in action in the video below.

"We are honoured to have been selected as the winner of the Intel Make It Wearable challenge," said Christoph Kohstall, founder and chief executive of Nixie.

"The future of wearable computing is boundless, and the opportunities to innovate and think creatively inspired us to develop Nixie. With the power of chips such as Intel Edison, other designers, visionaries and technologists can also bring their ideas to life and impact how we interact with and integrate technology into our daily lives."

UK company Open Bionics, which offers an affordable robotic hand, was awarded second place and a prize of $200,000.

Third place and a prize of $100,000 went to a device called ProGlove, a connected glove for use in industry and manufacturing designed by a German company.

Intel said that the prize money is designed to help the teams improve their software and hardware with a view to bringing the devices to market.