Cancer survivor’s new sleep app to be trialled at Maroubra retirement home

A cancer survivor who has been working on a project to improve people’s sleep and health is getting close to rolling out his new technology — which will be trialled at a retirement home in Maroubra.

App developer and cancer survivor Nikhil Autar at UNSW. Picture: Jennifer Soo

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A cancer survivor who has been working on a project to improve people’s sleep and health is getting close to rolling out his new technology — which will be trialled at a retirement home in Maroubra.

Cancer survivor and medical student Nikhil Autar is the founder of an app called Centred Around You which he has been working on for over a year at UNSW and which is almost ready for trials.

He started on the project following his own experience as a leukaemia patient witnessing the dangers of misinformation and poor medical advice.

His app will provide users with “wellness advice” from evidence-based research across a range of health topics including sleep.

“There is a lot of misinformation and confusion, and just a lot of apps out there in x or y space but they are not really that evidence based.”

Nikhil Autar has been helped by the Founders business start-up program at UNSW. Picture: Jennifer Soo

Mr Autar has been working with a team of engineers at UNSW to create devices which will be used alongside the app, to assist users, including a smart inclining bed and smart sensor mat.

He said the prototypes were completed and a trial will be carried out in about six months at Maroubra Shores Residential Care with the app and devices.

He explained the smart sensor mat — which lies underneath a person on a bed — will send nurses information and alerts via the app about potential bed sores or falls and collect helpful data.

“Seventy per cent of falls happen when you are getting up out of bed.

“Right now we know if you put in three times your weight (in force) when you are standing up out of bed we know you have successfully gotten out of bed, that’s how much force it takes.

Nikhil Autar has overcome leukaemia after being diagnosed as a teenager.

“And our sensors can map how much force you have imparted onto the bed and if it matches something that is a bit weird (we know they may have fallen).”

Meanwhile, the smart inclining bed is a device that attaches to a bed and helps lift a person’s head or upper body to improve sleep, like a hospital bed.

“Basically what we are going to do is the app has the ability to judge its efficacy … we will test out is sleep incline therapy actually good (for the user)?”

If you are interested in signing up to take part in the trials, where you will get to use the app and devices free of charge, visit caroundyou.com and click on ‘become a beta tester’.

Centred around You is also in the running for a NSW Government grant through My Community Project.

Click here to vote for the project. Voting closing at midnight on Thursday, August 15.

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