When the topic of the Internet of Things comes up, it’s easy to escape in a world of phone-controlled colored light bulbs and smart ovens. This overlooks the progress being made in the world of industry and healthcare thanks to this clever concept of device connectivity. For those afflicted by Parkinson’s Disease, one start-up believes it might be on to something.
XEED, a startup founded by University of Pennsylvania students Sade Oba and Alfredo Muniz, is developing a wearable designed to monitor and log occurrences of tremors in order to aid the patient in understanding how their daily activities and treatment is affecting their symptoms.
Tremors are perhaps the most outwardly visible symptom of Parkinson’s Disease. Medication and physical therapy are used to assist in reducing their occurrence, however the degree and type of treatments change as the disease progresses. It also tracks the user’s voluntary movements in order to provide critical data about how daily activities affect the occurrence of symptoms. What XEED’s wrist-worn wearable hopes to do is provide the wearer with real data as to how their daily activities can be adjusted to give them a better life.
For patients, a smartphone app will enable them to not only see their progress, but to receive suggestions to help them to adjust their daily activities.
XEED can provide real insight for caregivers
It is a step towards giving patients, their caregivers, and healthcare professionals real insight into their patient’s condition. It could also provide crucial data to researchers that are searching for better methods of controlling or even curing the disease.
XEED’s currently working on its third working prototype, continually improving on its design. In an email to TechCrunch, co-founder Alfredo Muniz stated, “We will be testing the batch of 50 on a small group for two weeks, paying attention to how they put the devices on, whether the LED indicators are useful, whether they remember to charge it, and what modifications need to be done to the phone app.”
XEED’s founders received the President’s Innovation Prize last year, which gave them $200,000 to pursue development of their technology. They are also talking with investors and working with a local Parkinson’s rehabilitation center.
