Smartwatch monitors elderly, helps keep them safe

A Sydney start-up has developed a watch phone for the elderly to monitor their safety and movements.

The intelligent Guardian watch will be available from March costing between $300 and $350.

Sydney start-up Edisse is set to press go on a soft launch of its “intelligent’’ wearable that remotely monitors the elderly at home or in aged-care facilities.

Edisse’s Guardian watch allows family members or carers to monitor their elderly parents or patients easily, particularly in the case of a fall or if they get lost.

It looks and feels like a normal watch, but has a phone, GPS and activity sensors built in and its battery can last up to two weeks on a single charge.

“The objective of Guardian is to create a seamless, wearable device that elderly people can use really easily and gives peace of mind to carers and family members,’’ Edisse chief technology officer and co-founder Jai Chopra said. “It’s essentially a phone in a watch so it has a SIM card, a microphone and a speaker so the person can press the crown and we have pressure sensors on the watch as well.’’

The device has Android, iOS and web applications so relatives or carers will get a push notification to their phone if someone has triggered the watch and they can also get an email or an SMS notification.

“At that point, they can open up the app and see where the person is,’’ Mr Chopra said.

“You can also set geo-sensors as well so you can have a map and draw around a specific radius and if they cross the boundary then you get a notification.’’

Edisse, which has a patent for the way it calculates fall detection, went through the Sydney University INCUBATE program and is receiving support from the University of NSW Innovations via its Student Entrepreneur Development team.

Mr Chopra, who is a UNSW computer science and engineering graduate, said about 60 elderly users had trialled the device in NSW, Victoria and South Australia with a soft launch planned for December.

“We are going to have a website where you can purchase it, but for now we are migrating to paid trials, where a customer is actually paying for the product and we are fixing the final things that we need for a soft launch.’’

The device would be available on the company’s website from March.

Mr Chopra estimated the Guardian watch would sell for about $300-$350 with a small monthly fee for SIM card usage.

The company, originally formed by students at the University of Sydney, last year received $320,000 from South Australian manufacturer Hills.

UNSW Innovations recently linked the start-up with Data61, which was formed from NICTA and CSIRO’s digital productivity team.

Data61 PhD students Samaneh Movassaghi and Suranga Seneviratne assisted Edisse.