A kid from India created a device that greatly increased hope for dementia care. People with Alzheimer’s disease can benefit from this device, particularly those who enjoy wandering but frequently get lost.
Hemesh Chadalavada, 17, was inspired to create a helpful invention by his grandmother, who was diagnosed with dementia, another name for Alzheimer’s disease. It wasn’t until he spent the summer of 2018 with his grandma that he realized the severity of the illness.
She went to the kitchen one evening to prepare tea, then came back to her bedroom. Chadalavada was astonished to see that his grandma had left the gas on when he went to the kitchen. It was at this point that he became aware of the effects of having Alzheimer’s.
“I was still in disbelief despite her recent Alzheimer’s diagnosis. What may have occurred if I hadn’t been present?Ever since, Chadalavada was consumed with concern for his grandmother’s well-being.
Chadalavada said, “She used to get up at three or four in the morning and go outside, thinking she was on a train.” His grandma was an accomplished public servant who had a busy life.
He realized he had to take action to assist her and other dementia patients when her symptoms worsened. As he discovered that other families faced comparable difficulties, he also developed empathy for them.
One family spent two years looking everywhere for their father after he went missing. He was never located by them. Ultimately, they gave up, according to Chadalavada.
He spent days studying individuals with Alzheimer’s disease in a day center in order to have a greater grasp of dementia care.
He was instructed by Bala Tripuna Sundari, the co-founder of the institute, that the gadget he should create needed to be “something light that can be worn on any part of the body.” According to her, “many patients take off their watches because they don’t like having to wear them.”
He started watching robotics videos on YouTube and taught himself how to create a device despite his demanding school schedule. Before he produced the device, he created twenty prototypes of it.
The patient can wear Chadalavada’s Alpha Monitor device as a badge or an armband. The wearer activates an alarm upon movement, alerting the caregiver in the event that the patient trips or walks off.
These features are likewise included in the majority of comparable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi devices, however the patient’s movement outside of the range area breaks the connection.
The creation of Chandalavada allows the caregiver to keep an eye on the patient from a distance of one mile in urban areas and three miles in rural areas. Long-range technology, or LoRa, is a physical, unique radio communication method that made this possible.
Other helpful functions of the monitor include temperature and pulse monitoring and prescription reminders for patients.
Even though the gadget is already practical and helpful, Chadalavada hopes to make further improvements. In order to enable the device to anticipate a patient’s movement patterns, he wants to add another function. He intends to use machine learning for it.
Chadalavada received several honors for his groundbreaking invention, including the Times of India’s esteemed #Unstoppable21 Award.
Also, he was awarded a grant of 10 million rupees (£100,000) from Samsung Solve for Tomorrow. He won this competition over 18,000 other entrants, and as a bonus, he got to work with Samsung’s best engineers as mentors.
In addition, when Chandalavada was twelve years old, he created a heat detector to keep an eye on his friends’ body temperatures while they were playing cricket. Even in the summertime heat, “we all loved playing cricket,” he remarked, “but many of my friends would get sick.”
“I wanted something that would let us know when to stop playing because our bodies were getting too hot and would let us enjoy ourselves to the fullest.”
One bright, gifted, and compassionate adolescent with the potential to make more beneficial inventions is Chandalavada. Bravo to this young man for bringing his ingenuity to the world and, one invention at a time, helping dementia care!
Here’s a brief movie that demonstrates Chandalavada’s creation, the Alpha Monitor:
