Load the Game

Pressure sensor developed by teen to help with Alzheimer’s patients

• Egon Kilin
• December 17th, 2014

A pressure sensor was developed by Kenneth Shinozuka, 15, a participant in the Google Science Fair, to help prevent Alzheimer’s patients from wandering about, putting themselves in danger. Kenneth Shinozuka has a grandfather who suffers from Alzheimer’s and when the teenager realized that his grandfather would wander at night without anyone noticing, putting himself at risk of injury or even death, he thought that he would try to help prevent the aimless wandering.

At the Google Science Fair, the teenager proposed a pressure sensor which would be attached to the foot and would send out an alert via Bluetooth to the care-giver. The pressure sensor has been in development since 2015 and Kenneth proved that it works each and every time, without alerting to false positive readings. Once the grandfather stepped off the bed, the wireless pressure sensor would activate and alert his caregiver that he was on the move. According to Kenneth, his invention helped his family cope with the ill grandfather and prevent him from injuring himself or wandering too far away.

Kenneth participated in the Google Science Fair with his pressure sensor and even though he didn’t win the big prize, he did receive the Scientific American Science in Action Award, $50.000 and mentoring so that he can further develop the pressure sensor so that the device would help other people that suffer from Alzheimer’s or dementia, or any other illness that would cause them to wander about and stray from their home. Kenneth called his project “Wearable Sensors: A Novel Healthcare Solution For The Aging Society” and he plans to further develop his pressure sensor and make it available all around the world.

In the future, aside from working on the pressure sensor and other devices that would help suffering people, Kenneth plans to study neuroscience so that hey may work on an actual cure for Alzheimer’s and dementia. Seeing as he has witnessed the perils of this disease first-hand, through his grandfather, the efforts of Kenneth to make life easier for him with the wearable pressure sensor is admirable and novel and we wish him the best of luck in his endeavors. At the same time, it is wonderful to see that diligent teenagers are still willing to help elderly people and those with various afflictions live a better and safer life and we admire what Kenneth has done.