IoT Smart Assistive Devices for the Disabled & Elderly

The rapidly evolving medical technologies have been assisting the elderly and people with disabilities (PWD) over the years. According to WHO, there are currently more than 2B disabled people in the world, and of this, 1.3B people are affected by some form of blindness and visual impairment. Furthermore, the rising elderly population also demands increased responsibility from the healthcare industry to assist them with the slowly debilitating disability. These are the people who need assistive devices to perform their day-to-day activities for maintaining a healthy, independent, and dignified lifestyle. The global elderly and disabled assistive devices market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.5% to reach $35.6B by 2026. [1] Assistive Device Technology Assistive device technology with assistive, adaptive, and rehabilitative devices supports people to perform activities of daily living independently. These devices are aimed at providing additional access to such individuals with cognitive difficulties, impairments, and disabilities. They’re widely used in various applications such as mobility aids, prosthetic equipment, personal care devices, communication devices, usage of adaptive switches, etc. Mobility devices include equipment that helps in restricted or nil mobility of seniors and visually impaired, thereby helping them to move around their homes and surroundings so easily. Devices include simple items such as a walking cane, crutches, and walkers.

• Smart cane: Smart cane is an electronic integrated travel aid that’s equipped with sensors, ultrasonic ranging to detect objects in its path, and generates a tactile output in the form of different vibratory patterns. These vibrations are analyzed by a microprocessor and alert the aged people or people with visual impairment of the obstacles at a safe distance to move around safely.
• Assistive domotics: Assistive domotics is a form of home automation that focuses on the elderly and the disabled to remain safe and comfortable at home. Voice-enabled activation on the appliances and smart AI-assisted technologies brings in a lot of comfort for PWDs to be independent. These solutions use Bluetooth sensing to track movements at home. Sensing units are affixed to pillboxes, doors, key chains, wheelchairs, hearing aids, etc., and the GPS technology documents the exact place details of the individual, logs and reports it to the family members.

Helping Opportunity Assistive technology products are increasingly covered by medical insurance companies, thereby reducing the burden on consumers. This further increases the number of collaborations between insurance companies and healthcare providers to develop unique devices to assist people. Universal accessibility is critical for people with disabilities to gain equal opportunity and to participate in all aspects of life. These devices provide additional accessibility to such individuals. Currently, there are more than 1B people using one or more assistive devices. This represents a sizeable and growing opportunity across different product categories for assistive devices. Backed by 40 Years of Expertise We contribute our 40 years of design and manufacturing expertise spanning multiple diverse markets. We look forward to discussing how we can deliver world-class products for OEMs across the globe. We understand our home Indian market, familiar with its vast regulatory and selling environments. We foster growth opportunities within India through our strong technology incubation ecosystem. We also assist global OEMs in entering the Indian market by leveraging the local supply chain and favorable operating environments for cost reductions. Our flagship Chennai location opened in 2006 and lies within a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for electronics manufacturing, offering economic incentives for imports and exports. This primary facility is within 90 minutes of the Chennai seaport and 20 minutes to the international airport. Additional road and rail connectivity links to the rest of India and beyond and infrastructure advantages with faster import and export clearances. We also have labor force flexibility, both technical and manual, to scale to demand rapidly. To learn more about this topic, please contact us.