Onna Village, overlooking the emerald-green sea on a hill to the south of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) campus, is home to Tancha no Oka Miyabi. For over decades, this facility has been offering comprehensive services for the elderly, including day care and in-home facilities. Now, a new partnership with Sage Sentinel, an age-tech startup company, is set to commence.
Sage Sentinel, a participant in OIST's 2020 entrepreneurship support program, the OIST Innovation Accelerator, is in the process of developing an AI-based system capable of predicting and preventing senior citizen falls before they occur. Khashayar Misaghian, one of the company's founders and its CEO, recently visited Tancha no Oka Miyabi to conduct interviews with on-site staff, aiming to identify their needs and challenges, and explored the possibility of conducting pilot testing for the fall prediction system within the facility.
With the aging of society, the incidence of accidents resulting from falls is on the rise. According to the 2018 statistics from the Japan Consumer Affairs Agency, 'falls and tumbles' ranked as the leading cause of unexpected deaths among the elderly in Japan, followed by 'aspiration and other accidental suffocation' and 'accidental drowning'. These unintentional accidents result in more fatalities than traffic accidents and natural disasters. On a global scale, falls have emerged as pressing social issues among the elderly, with the World Health Organization (WHO) identifying 'falls' as the second most common cause of fatal injury worldwide. Even when falls are not fatal, they can often lead to severe consequences, such as hip fractures and head injuries, significantly diminishing one's quality of life.
After experiencing a fall involving an elderly family member, Khashayar realized that numerous older individuals have had their quality of life significantly impacted by such incidents. The idea for the startup occurred to him while he was conducting research on visual perception and aging at the University of Montreal in Canada. He stated, "I was convinced that technology to prevent falls would become increasingly vital," adding, "We believed that this technology should seamlessly integrate into the lives of seniors."
Sage Sentinel primarily develops systems based on image analysis and wearable devices. The image-based system uses infrared sensors and AI based software to continuously monitor and analyze an elderly person's body movements in real-time, predicting the likelihood of a fall three to five seconds before it occurs. On the other hand, wearable devices are compact gadgets that can be attached to a belt or worn on the arm, employing sensors to detect potential falls in advance and notify the wearer through sound and vibration alerts. Khashayar stated, "These systems can deliver visual, auditory, and tactile warnings, thus serving as an early warning system for falls. While it may appear to be only a few seconds of difference in time, those few seconds are critical in preventing falls that can render an elderly person bedridden."
Beyond their role in predicting and alerting against falls, these systems are also being explored for integration with training programs aimed at increasing individuals' awareness of potential fall scenarios and equipping them with preventive measures.
During their visit to Tancha no Oka Miyabi, Khashayar and his team conducted a demonstration session for the on-site staff to showcase the devices they are developing. Osamu Kinjo, the section manager at Tancha no Oka Miyabi, who took part in the demo session, commented, "It is highly meaningful to contemplate fall prevention from an entirely different standpoint, beyond the scope of our daily work. These future endeavors might unearth challenges and solutions of which we are presently unaware," expressing his optimism for the future collaboration.
Sage Sentinel intends to conduct pilot testing at Tancha no Oka Miyabi shortly and will utilize the results to inform the development of products. The company has been selected to participate in startup support programs both in Japan and internationally, indicating its potential for substantial growth in the future
Header image by Nico Franz from Pixabay
