10060192Co-creation of smart socks (MPATIX) with sensors and AI to monitor physiology, understand behaviour and predict problems for people with dementia living in the communityClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKDementia care is challenging and expensive, costing £35 billion in the UK. Following demographic trends, the number of people living with dementia in the UK will surge to 1.6 million in less than three decades, placing unprecedented demand on health and social care. Of the 920,000 people currently living with dementia in the UK (Alzheimer's Society), the majority (560,000 or 61%) live in the community (Social Care Institute for Excellence-2020). Around half of these people experience challenging behavioural symptoms (aggression, anxiety, agitation) linked to unmanaged distress (Anatchkova-2019). Distressed behaviours: * Are a leading source of burden for carers (Tsai-2021), and factor into families' decisions to place relatives into care homes (Hermann-2006; Alzheimer's Research UK) * Cost over £2 billion/year in the UK (Morris-2015) * Reflect resolvable underlying issues such as discomfort/lack of pain management which the person cannot communicate (Cohen-Mansfield-2000) Distressed behaviours occur when carers fail to recognise/address the needs of people with dementia, who often cannot identify or communicate why/that they are in distress (Algase-1996). There is an unserved need for technological solutions that support carers to promptly respond to individuals' unique wants and situational triggers to prevent escalations in behaviour (Martínez-Raga-2018). Emerging solutions are now focusing on using electrodermal activity to identify the physiological precursors of agitation enabling improved management (Kikhia-2016; Melander-2017/2018). To date these devices have used wrist-mounted physiological sensors. However, wrist-mounted sensors have struggled to gain user/carer acceptance, causing agitation, stigmatisation (Hassan-2017), and removal (Bankole-2011). With funding from Alzheimer's Society, Milbotix has developed MPATIX smart socks with comfortable e-textile sensors that measure pulse, sweat, temperature, and motion. Utilising our novel machine learning algorithm and mobile application, we can alert dementia carers to early signs of distress to promote proactive/preventative management. Looking and feeling like normal socks, the MPATIX socks are machine washable and won't require charging. The UK Dementia Research Institute (DRI) Minder platform connects sensors and devices to a clinical dashboard and is already improving the lives of people affected by dementia. Milbotix's collaboration with the UK DRI Care Research & Technology Centre at Imperial College London means that remote clinicians can be alerted to changes in behaviour and altered cognitive/physiological states, which is not possible with existing devices. User research, a technology pilot and a feasibility study performed during this project will help to ensure that MPATIX meets end users' needs, and collect evidence of benefits for people with dementia and their carers living in the community.