They create smart socks that help protect people with dementia and prevent falls

A recent study warned that older people with dementia go to the emergency room twice as often than their healthy peers. However, scientists from the University of Michigan, who did the research, pointed out that these consultations can be potentially avoidable. As indicated, the most common reasons are accidents, alterations in behavior and general weakness.

Following these results, a new project led by Dr. Shlomi Haar from the DRI Care Research and Technology Center in the United Kingdom will seek to help reduce accidents in these people. The doctor and her team will test whether a stocking that combines sensors with artificial intelligence could help detect moments of anxiety and prevent falls in people with dementia.

Named as 'SmartSocks', of Milbotix, these garments track heart rate, sweat levels, and movement to provide information about the wearer's well-being and, most importantly, how anxious the person is feeling. They look and feel like regular socks, don't need charging, are machine washable, and provide a constant stream of data to caregivers who can easily view their patients' metrics in an app.

Care technology start-up Milbotix partnered with teams from two UK institutions to trial the technology. In one project, this company is working with the UK's DRI Care Research and Technology Center at Imperial College London, which is developing “smart home” technology to help people living with dementia stay in their own homes as long as possible.

In this study, the team will first test the SmartSocks in their living laboratory, a home environment where they study the activities of daily living and develop technologies before they can be tested at home. They will then deploy the technology in the homes of 15 people living with dementia to evaluate the socks' ability to detect distress and agitation in the wearer.

In a second separate study, Milbotix is working with the University of Exeter to test whether SmartSocks can help staff working in care homes to support people who may not be able to communicate agitation or the cause of distress.

Dr Zeke Steer, founder and chief executive of the company, who published his study at Bristol University, said: “The foot is actually a great place to collect data on stress, and socks are a familiar item of clothing that people wear. every day". And he added: “Our research shows that stockings can accurately recognize the signs of stresswhich could really help not only people with dementia and autismbut also to their caregivers.”

During the research, a care home for people with dementia volunteered. “Using examples of modern assistive technologies, such as smart socks, can help people living with dementia maintain their dignity and achieve better quality outcomes in their daily lives,” said the doctor, who decided to investigate how technologies laptops and artificial intelligence They could help with the symptoms of dementia following the case of their great-grandmother, who suffered from the disease.

While volunteering, Dr. Steer came up with the idea of Milbotix, which he launched as a business. “I realized that what happened to my great-grandmother was not an isolated episode and that distressing behaviors are very common,” she explained. Currently, the startup seeks to work with innovative social care organizations to refine and evaluate smart stockings.

The UK's DRI Care Research and Technology Center is already testing technology that monitors sleep, movement around the home and physiological measurements such as temperature and blood pressure. A centralized computing platform, called 'Minder', connects these measurements to a dashboard, allowing doctors to remotely monitor people living with dementia. Using this technology, the team aims to be able to detect problems early, reduce avoidable hospitalizations and empower people living with dementia to remain independent within their own homes.

“Used by people with dementia, autism spectrum disorders and some learning disabilitiesthe SmartSocks “They can improve quality of life, reduce agitation, reduce the burden on families and caregivers, and save medical and social care costs,” they explain from their website.

This is how smart socks work:

1. Milbotix application. Installed on a smartphone, you scan the QR code that comes with the socks, which connects them to the Wi-Fi network.

2. Sensor. A sensor built into one of these socks collects physiological data from the foot and ankle of the person being monitored.

3. Data. Data is transmitted wirelessly to a secure cloud platform.

4. Processing. Sophisticated algorithms (which still have a patent pending) process the sensor data and estimate the probability that the person is experiencing distress.

5. Alerts. The care team receives alerts about emergency situations through the application.

6. Answer. The healthcare team intervenes to calm the situation.