vertere

Providing people with disabilities frictionless access to devices that afford autonomy over their sleep.

Team Size:
4
Location:
Australia
Founders:
Urwah Nawaz,Sharjeel Nawaz,Vishal Uppal,Kate Leone
Program(s):

The Problem

Approx. 4.2 million Australians suffer from a physical disability, either due to aging, injury or congenital disorder that puts them at risk of immobility. As a result of this immobility, PwD can be in a stationary position for prolonged periods, which is specifically harmful at night, where this can lead to general discomfort and health issues such as the development of pressure sores and accumulation of fluid in lungs. A way to mitigate this is to practice rotation of the individual, from side to side which can either be achieved manually, or through the use of sleeping aids which have to be adjusted every 2 hours. As a result, PwD either require in-home caregivers, or are admitted to institutions where they are supervised constantly for this process. However, a major problem with this practice is that the PwD is disturbed during sleep, they have a general lack of autonomy, and more commonly than not, caregivers are family members.

The Solution

Sleep is an area that is generally underlooked when it comes to the development of newer, advanced assistive technology. That’s why vertere is developing a lateral rotation therapy mattress system that can be integrated onto existing bed-frames while affording side-to-side movement. In addition to lateral rotation, iterations of the mattress will implement sensors for pressure mapping and vital sign tracking, and use of machine learning to optimize for positions and adjust to correct for any pressure hot spots identified over extended periods of time. Our product is also going to focus on good design and aesthetics, which are known to have a huge impact on quality of life. Currently, we are working alongside occupational therapists and industrial designers and have developed a first iteration of our product as a CAD image. We are now doing more user interviews and surveys and start the development of a benchtop proof-of-concept.