Smart Glasses Revolutionise Life For People With Dementia
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These new lightweight smart glasses and an augmented reality app, help people living with dementia remember loved ones, objects, and daily activities.
AI-powered smart glasses that can identify everyday objects and guide people with dementia through daily activities have been hailed as “revolutionary”. Built into black-rimmed frames that have a camera, microphone and speakers, the tech - known as CrossSense - guides wearers through everyday life by means of a chatty assistant called Wispy. Not only can Wispy offer prompts and feedback during tasks - through verbal cues and text that floats in front of the wearer’s eyes - but it can also ask questions, engage in light conversation and aid reminiscences.
The glasses scooped a major prize this week when the Longitude Prize on Dementia awarded £1m to the innovation, saying that the innovative tech will support people with dementia to live safely in their homes for longer. Furthermore, psychological science states that by establishing these multi-sensory connections, CrossSense may slow down memory decline, and even improve broader cognition.
The glasses are able to learn a person’s way of doing things, provide prompts and talk through what to do when a person cannot remember a step in a process. “The impact the technology has already had on people living with dementia is worth more than any prize,” said Dame Wendy Hall, chair of the Longitude Committee.
Prof Fiona Carragher of the Alzheimer’s Society said: “This revolutionary tech will allow people with dementia to maintain their independence for longer within the familiar environment of home.”
Szczepan Orlins, the chief executive of CrossSense, said the prize money would help to bring the company’s product to market. He said a smartphone version would be available at the end of this year and the CrossSense-enabled smart glasses were expected to be available in early 2027.