VIBRANTe: Wearable Technologies for Parkinson's Disease Patients and Health Professionals

  • VIBRANTe: Wearable Technologies for Parkinson's Disease Patients and Health Professionals

Why it matters

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurological condition that can affect people from all walks of life. Symptoms may include muscle rigidity, tremor, postural instability and slowness of movement. Conservatively estimates indicates that more than 80,000 Australians are living with Parkinson’s and each person is affected differently and the rate of progression varies greatly between individuals. Every Parkinson’s patient is different and will have a different combination of symptoms, different levels of intensity and will progress at a different rate. As a result, the method by which PD symptoms are assessed and managed as it progresses is complex and often imprecise, inhibiting proper medical intervention.

Project Overview

The aim of the project is to explore wearable technology concepts to assist in capturing relevant and accurate data for patients, carers and healthcare professionals. This includes the design of physical devices suitable to PD patients in real-world contexts, as well as the development of appropriate user interfaces and data visualisations for carers and health professionals.
This is an ongoing project and is it’s in the early stages of development.

Project Milestones

Phase 1: Develop direction, vision and scope of project (physical and digital solutions)

Phase 2: Identify design directions through research and early conceptualisation

Phase 3: Prototype design concepts for testing

Phase 4: Finalise working prototype

Phase 5: Deploy and refine final prototype

 

Project Team

Chief Investigator: 

Associate Professor Rafael Gomez

Associate Investigators:

Dr Manuela Taboada

Dr Vaugh Pinxit

Dan Cook

Research Assistants:

Ashleigh Meintjes

Logan McNally

Emily Hill

Tom He