A British company has invented the CrossSense glasses, with video cameras and voice recognition, which help Alzheimer’s patients to have more independence and plan their day in small steps.
A pair of smart glasses, currently being tested only in the UK, in English, could be of great help to dementia sufferers, reports Corriere della Sera.
“I’d like to organize things. It’s hard for me to focus on one thing at a time instead of a million things I don’t want to think about” or “What I want is to continue living in my apartment and not be a burden to my son” are some of the most common statements among dementia patients. To be as independent as possible is probably the most sincere desire among those experiencing the onset of cognitive decline. Worldwide, more than 55 million people live with some form of dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease is the leading cause.
These patients know that over time, without curative therapies, their self-sufficiency will be severely tested. Animorph, a co-op based in London, identified the problem and tried to provide answers with CrossSense , high-tech glasses connected to an augmented reality application, designed to make everyday life less difficult for those in difficulty.
CrossSense glasses are equipped with cameras, lens-mounted live displays and voice recognition. They can recognize objects and people, warn of danger, manage daily activities and even remember people’s names, thus providing the most independent and above all safe life possible, easing the burden on family members and carers.
When Alzheimer’s patients look at an object, such as an apple, the name “apple” will appear on the screen of the glasses. The integrated artificial intelligence assistant, Wispy, can identify the food in front of the user, remember where the keys were left or help turn on the heating.
“For example, if you look at a toaster,” explained Szczepan Orlins, director of Animorph and software architect, “it will tell you what you can do with it, but also be careful when you take out the toast.” The system also provides reminders and prompts for scheduled tasks such as medication administration.
The glasses communicate with the wearer through speakers built into the arms and provide real-time safety information. A person with dementia might be alerted if the gas is left on, or reassured about the route while walking outdoors. The Times conducted a hands-on test, placing the device on a woman with vascular dementia. The smart glasses followed her step by step as she safely made the tea with a kettle and prompted her to smell the milk to make sure it hadn’t gone bad. “Wait for the water to boil, then pour it into the mug, then add a tea bag.”
These innovative glasses work with an extended language model, and Wispy, the integrated assistant based on artificial intelligence, can help plan a day and divide tasks into small steps. The glasses are also equipped with features designed to read a person’s moods.
“The ability to understand how a person feels is one of the essential elements of this project,” Szczepan Orlins told the Times. “We can analyze a person’s tone of voice, words and movements. All three together can provide a very effective assessment.”
The strength of smart glasses lies in the organization of procedures. People with Alzheimer’s have difficulty following individual steps, and the challenge is order. What’s next? Have we already done this? When these questions accumulate, it is easy to abandon a task that has gone from a simple one to a complex action.
CrossSense, unlike commercial reminder apps, guides the user (with a soft, uninhibited voice) through the process step by step, following a sequence. This applies to making tea as well as preparing a full meal or dressing. The AI ​​software also helps find the right words to describe objects and remembers (again in gentle tones) what the user was doing by keeping track of conversations.
However, there are still many challenges and questions: Will elderly patients with dementia tolerate talking glasses? Will a digital companion be too intrusive? The frames available today are thinner than the original prototypes, but weigh 75 grams (compared to 30-40 grams for standard frames). Will they be too uncomfortable? They last about an hour, but come with a built-in external battery that allows them to be used all day.
The idea is for patients to wear these glasses for up to two hours, during periods when they face greater memory difficulties. The AI ​​software will be available to purchase by the end of the year, with a subscription price of around £50 per month, plus the cost of the glasses, which will be around £700. This device, the company says, is encrypted and works offline “on a secure and independent network” to protect user privacy, so no data is sent to the cloud.
