CareBand selected Optimal Design as the exclusive design and engineering partner for the development of the CareBand wearable. The project was born from the founder’s simple idea: to leverage cutting edge sensor and communication technology to assist seniors suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia. CareBand needed a partner with a wide breadth of sensor experience and a history of working with emerging wireless technologies. Optimal Design drove the development of the CareBand wearable from early concepting and technology validation, to wireless certification and full production. The CareBand system features wander management, indoor and outdoor location monitoring, and fall detection. Together, Optimal Design and CareBand embarked on a mission with a shared goal to advance the human ability of seniors living with dementia.
The founder of CareBand saw a senior care industry plagued with archaic technology and a lack of innovation. While solutions existed in the market to track patients indoor or send notifications when a patient left a certain exit point, the systems lacked any value for the most dangerous situation for seniors living with dementia: wandering outside of a care facility or senior community. Established sensors and mainstream wireless technologies were too costly and consumed too much power to engineer a feasible solution.
The CareBand wearable is the world’s first production wearable to combine emerging LPWAN wireless, Bluetooth Low Energy wireless, and GPS tracking technology. The wearable features an electronic system comprised of multi-layer flexible printed circuits and wireless charging packaged in an ergonomically-friendly band. The device includes advanced sensor fusion software algorithms that provide on-device intelligence while maximizing battery life. These technologies, working together increase the safety and independence of seniors, giving caregivers and family members peace of mind.
