The Longitude Prize on Dementia has awarded the £1m grand prize to CrossSense, a personalised AI-powered assistant, developed for smart glasses, that identifies everyday objects and guides people living with early-stage dementia through daily activities, with the ultimate aim of supporting them to live safely in their own homes for longer.
By asking gentle prompts, CrossSense’s AI companion – called Wispy – understands and learns a person’s unique way of doing things, with the AI adapting to each user’s needs as their dementia progresses.
The glasses capture the environment of the person living with dementia and the AI interprets that information to help the user to do the things that define independence – feeling confident in their own home, taking good care of themselves, planning the day ahead, completing planned activities and hosting friends and family.
CrossSense has been developed by the London-based social enterprise, CrossSense Ltd. The team trained the technology with dozens of everyday activities including getting dressed, managing household chores safely, making a cup of tea and interacting with loved ones. Wispy asks helpful questions and offers prompts so that the user makes their own choices – and talks through what to do when a person cannot remember a particular step in a process.
The interactive, talkative and patient AI companion offers cognitive stimulation to get people thinking, talking and imagining, so that individuals continue to see the relationships between things – like how a kitchen, mugs, spoons, teabags, water, kettle and milk are all connected to making a cup of tea. This helps to maintain neural connections, slow cognitive decline in early-stage dementia and improve quality of life.
Working with the University of Sussex and a panel of people affected by dementia, the team observed improvements in some users’ ability in naming objects, and other cognitive abilities in visual-spatial understanding, short-term and working memory – a component of memory that allows individuals to actively use information in the moment, such as following a conversation, solving a simple calculation, or remembering instructions.
The prize’s panel of international expert judges agreed that the winning solution was a genuine breakthrough technology with revolutionary potential for people living with dementia and their families.
Szczepan Orlins, CEO, CrossSense Ltd said: “Winning the Longitude Prize on Dementia is a dream come true. As a small team with big ambitions, the prize’s support has accelerated CrossSense in ways that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. The technology is designed to support daily living, integrating multiple senses to simplify essential tasks. We’re grateful to the people living with dementia and their families who helped shape it. This win brings us closer to making CrossSense available to the public within the next year.”
The Longitude Prize on Dementia is funded by Alzheimer’s Society and Innovate UK and is delivered by Challenge Works. It has driven the creation of personalised, technology-based tools that are co-created with people living with dementia, helping them to maintain their independence at home.
In addition, the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) funded academics from the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre at LSE to conduct a product evaluation study in the finalist phase.
Professor Fiona Carragher, Chief Policy and Research Officer at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “Rapid advancements in AI will give people affected by early-stage dementia the opportunity to stay safely in their own homes for longer and lead more independent, fulfilled lives. The CrossSense smart glasses companion is a prime example of harnessing technology to develop intuitive personal support that complements care given by humans. By anticipating people’s needs as their condition progresses, easing daily living challenges and providing additional reassurance to families, this revolutionary tech will allow people with dementia to maintain their independence for longer within the familiar environment of home.”
