16 Jan 2020
Wearables for seniors: AI specialist creates wellness tech that predicts falls and ailments
BY Tom Walker
A new product aimed at the ageing population is combining wearable fitness tech with artificial intelligence to create a device designed to help predict potentially harmful ailments.
US-based AI specialist CarePredict has launched the Tempo Series 3 wearable tracker, described as the world's first wearable that can detect small changes in the daily activity patterns of seniors. Theses changes in patters can often precede falls, malnutrition, depression, and Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs).
The tech is able to autonomously observe and chart the activities of daily living (ADLs) – such as eating, cooking, walking, sleeping, bathing, and bathroom use patterns.
The system uses sensors, indoor location data, machine learning and AI to learn the senior's "normal" activity pattern and alerts family and friends when there is a deviation from their normal pattern.
These insights allow families of seniors to know when they are skipping meals, aren't sleeping well, are less active or if things are different than usual.
Using a linked CarePredict @Home app, family members can receive alerts and see how the user is doing on a daily basis.
"The data from conventional fitness trackers and smartwatches are not sufficient in assessing the continued wellness of a senior," said CarePredict CEO and founder Satish Movva.
"Tempo has been developed exclusively for the care of seniors with their unique needs in mind.
"For instance, we know that falls can occur during the night when conventional wearables are being recharged.
"So, we designed the Tempo with a swappable battery to ensure it never needs to be taken off for charging.
"Some wearables come with a button to alert for help, but Tempo goes beyond that to provide two-way communication that allows seniors to speak directly with family members for immediate reassurance and peace of mind.
"Goal setting in fitness trackers often entails counting of steps but in order to truly understand the abilities and frailties of a senior, Tempo tracks all their activity and distills that into an easy to understand and industry-first Activity Score."
The Tempo 3 was launched at this month's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) – where it received an "Innovation Awards Honoree" gong.
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