Students develop watch for senior citizens

The students of Aditya Birla World Academy robotics team called Binary Bolts have designed an innovative device named 'Saathi'– Your Fitness Companion. Saathi is a smart wrist band that has been developed with the objective of motivating elderly citizens to prioritize their health.

Taking charge of supporting senior citizens to become more aware of their physical health, students Vibhav Singh, Aadit Shah, Rishne Jain, Neer Mehta and Ishaan Makharia initiated the project to help the elders make healthy decisions to boost their physical fitness and reduce their risk of illness.

The idea was developed for the First Robotics Competition Qualcomm Innovation Challenge where these students won a semi-finalist award. The team took the idea further by developing prototypes of the watch and conducting efficacy research.

The students wrote a white paper based on their invention and it was published in the International Journal of Software and Hardware Research in Engineering (IJSHRE). The students feel that it has become crucial for elderly citizens to take care of their physical and social wellbeing and the core aim of the project was to encourage the elderly to stay active with friends and family with the help of technology that offers simple and convenient use.

According to the World Health Organization, back and neck discomfort, osteoarthritis (wearing down of joints), pulmonary disorders (affecting the lungs), diabetes, and depression are the most well-known ailments among elderly persons.

Physical activities address nearly all of these ailments, ensuring that even the elderly can remain healthy and happy.

The innovatively designed wristband named Saathi can be easily paired with a mobile app. Saathi consists of two primary parts: a band that fits around the wrist like a watch and an app that connects with people who have similar fitness demands, activity types, and locations.

Older adults can create goals and challenges for themselves, review the previous exercise, and make groups with friends as well as strangers with similar fitness interests. Saathi provides individuals with complete control over their fitness in a hassle-free and convenient way as the interface of the smart wristband and the mobile app is quite easy to use.

How is this watch different from other watches?

When we did our research, we gathered concern areas and defined our problem statements as: How can we make the technology simple to join a fitness group? How can we get the elderly to find small groups with similar fitness skills and goals? How can we educate the elderly about fitness goals and keep them motivated?

From our interviews, we learned that the major form of exercise for them is walking and thus keeping these factors in mind, we saw the opportunity to design our invention.

How does it work?

Simple and social to motivate the elderly. A band that changes colour once the fitness goal for the day is met and a social group icon that indicates the achievements of other members.

"Walking, which was the primary source of exercise for the elderly, was put on hold due to the pandemic. We recognised an opportunity to innovate, to address this challenge, and thought of Saathi, which means companion in Hindi. We believe that by motivating people to stay active, we will be able to support the elderly to lead a healthy lifestyle which has become more crucial than ever. Hence, we focused on features such as recording of the individual's fitness activity, access to join small fitness groups, personalized fitness goals, etc. We are optimistic that this project will revolutionise fitness levels of the senior citizens and significantly improve their physical and emotional health." Said Vibhav Singh, Innovation Challenge team leader for BInary Bolts

"I am incredibly proud of our students, who devised this initiative to support the elderly population in taking care of their physical and mental wellbeing. This is a wonderful moment for us because it shows that the students are proactive in recognising problems at a young age and taking various steps to help society at large. I am looking forward to witnessing great innovations from Binary Bolts." Neerja Birla, Founder and Chairperson, Aditya Birla Education Trust.