More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
A tiny white cube, being dubbed the Amazon Echo for the elderly, could help save the lives of thousands of elderly people, according to its creator.
The small, white miiCUBE may look unassuming but it’s creator Kelvin Summoogum thinks it has huge potential.
The technology expert, of Haven Way, on St Mary’s Island, near Chatham, set up miiCARE in March but was inspired to quit his high-flying job as a digital advisor after his grandmother suffered a fall several years ago.
“She was lying on a cold floor for 12 hours from 7pm until 7am in agony, waiting for someone to call. Eventually a neighbour found her and she was taken to hospital.
"She’d broken her hip,” he said. “It was a horrible experience and one I don’t want anyone else to have to go through. Every time we walked into hospital we were scared her bed would be empty.”
Having moved to the Towns from Mauritius 18 years ago, Mr Summoogum went on to advise the Met about technology during the London Olympics and has also worked with the New York Police Department and Transport for London.
That experience is something he’s now keen to use to help the area’s ageing population.
Using Artificial Intelligence miiCUBE learns about its owner and their routine and alerting the relevant people is something is wrong — such as users not getting home on time.
By tracking movement and vital signs it can also sense if someone is getting unwell, for example a person getting up repeatedly in the night to use the toilet could be a signs of diabetes or a kidney infection.
“But it’s more than that,” explains Mr Summoogum, “We’re trying to build a community.
“Using miiCUBE recently retired people can get alerts to check on users in the morning if needed.
“This keeps people active during their retirement and prevents them picking up bad habits, such as staying in bed later into the day, but it also helps keep the frail safe.”
So far miiCUBE, which is being developed at the Medway Innovation Centre, in Maidstone Road, has been backed by the likes of Kent County Council and Santander.
Thanks to £260,000 pledged to the project through crowdfunding and the expertise of 250 investors Mr Summoogum’s team is working towards a launch date of May.
However, there’s 33 cubes being trialled in homes across north Kent, 30 of which are at Ebbsfleet Garden City.
The 15,000 home development is part of NHS England’s Healthy New Town’s initiative and those behind it are using technology to keep residents active.
Mr Summoogum said: “Catching terrorists with cameras is difficult because you can’t ask the terrorist about their daily routine, with this project we’ve been able to spend two years really getting to know how elderly people live and develop a device that can get to know its users incredibly quickly.
“A lot of people don’t realise how many of the four million over 65s in the country living alone don’t have the internet or smart phones. Cost is not the main factor, ease of use is.
“Often you’ll hear elderly people trying to use Alexa — Amazon Echo’s voice assistant — and getting frustrated and eventually giving up because she keeps asking users who may have slow or interrupted speech to repeat themselves. We’ve spent time learning about these issues, what future users keep telling us is we need to make technology adapt to them and not the other way round.”
miiCARE is in talks with NHS England to provide the miiCUBE to the greatest number of users, it will work on a subscription model but Mr Summoogum says the cost of the actual device should be around £50.
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