Engineering Grads' High-Tech Walker Could Keep Seniors From Falling

Four University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) engineering undergraduates used the Sunrise of Boulder senior living community as a test-bed for a fall-preventing accessory for walkers, reports CU Boulder Today . The invention earned the researchers first prize at this year's New Venture Challenge, and the inventors have founded a start-up called Stride Tech to make their accessory more widely available. Their initial prototype, dubbed Smart Step, featured a set of hand grips that vibrated if a person applied too much weight on their assistive device. The next step was developing a sensor located near the base of a walker, gathering data on users' walking patterns, which care providers can use to help influence future health interventions. "We want to take this minimum viable product and then use the data we collect to create longer-term solutions," says co-developer Max Watrous.