A headband to study sleep staging and a wearable sensor that can help prevent falls highlight a slate of new projects that will be funded as part of a university and industry partnership that focuses on senior tech. Each pilot project will receive $250,000.
The studies will be incubated within the Massachusetts AI and Technology Center for Connected Care in Aging and Alzeheimer’s Disease.
The University of Massachusetts announced the new projects and their funding last week.
Two deal with fall risks, while two others deal with sleep and continuous health monitoring. The fifth project involves assisting seniors with driving and utilizes the Druid Impairment App. All the projects make use of artificial intelligence to facilitate the health care goals.
The five projects are:
· A study of AI assessments to limit fall risks, conducted by Electronic Caregiver and the Center for Human Health and Performance.
· UMass Amherst researchers at the Sleep Monitoring facility and developer DREEM will use the latter’s headbands and smartwatch on a sleep study.
· Aging in place and AD/ADRD care management will be studied by another UMass Sleep Monitoring collaboration with IT-company Tellus.
· A seniors and driving study will be conducted by UMass Mechanical and Industrial Engineering researchers and impairment testing company Impairment Science.
· A wearable sensor for orthostatic vital signs will be studied by companies TraceBio and CH2P.
Last year, MassAITC funded three other pilot projects dealing with senior tech, including two related to sensors and wearables to help monitor and assist dementia patients.
The program that funds the projects is a collaboration between UMass, the Center for Personalized Health Monitoring and various companies.
Almost seven million Americans – roughly 1 in 9 – age 65 and older are living with some level of Alzheimer’s dementia, the Alzheimer’s Association reported this year.
AI is increasingly being used to predict disease and treat patients. Research into AI and the broad patterns of Alzheimer’s — its onset and progression — are being conducted by researchers around the country.
