Inspired by his grandma’s Alzheimer’s, 17-year-old Hemesh Chadalavada from Hyderabad won the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest by creating an alert device.
In the summer of 2018, 12-year-old Hemesh Chadalavada and his grandma Jayasree, had a great time.
At her home in Guntur, southern India, Jayasree went to make tea late one evening while Chadalavada sat alone watching television.
When he walked into the kitchen after she had gone back to her bedroom, he saw that his sixty-three-year-old grandmother forgot to switch off the gas.
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The boy knew that his loving grandma was also well-known for her high-profile work as a public servant. But she was completely changed by Alzheimer’s.
Chadalavada was shocked due to the incident, and that’s when he decided to create a device that would help people like his grandma.
He describes himself as a robotics ‘nerd’ and is currently 17 years old. He is about to begin the production of a device that will detect when a patient with Alzheimer’s falls or wanders off.
He has created 20 prototypes after he learned about robotics and electronics watching YouTube videos. The device created by him is far superior as compared to other ones that are available on the market.
He spent time in a dementia care facility to learn about the needs of the people with dementia. As of now, there are about 8.8 million people living with the disease in India.
During his research time at a care facility, he understood that the gadget had to be something light that could be worn on any part of the body.
Watches feel uncomfortable and many patients take them off as they do not like wearing them.
Even though Chadalavada was busy with school work, the passing of his grandma in 2023, and stories of other patients, inspired him to do something about the issue.
And this is how the small, lightweight Alpha Monitor was born.
The device alerts the caregiver when the wearer starts to move, an alarm is activated, and a notification is received in case the patient falls or walks off. It can be worn as an armband or badge.
Other devices available in the market depend on wi-fi or Bluetooth, which have a limited frequency range.
The Alpha Monitor uses long-range technology, also known as LoRa, which helps to detect patients who have walked up to 3 miles away.
In addition to taking temperature and pulse, the monitor also reminds users about their medications.
The brilliant teen wants to use machine learning to take his idea a step further by predicting even a patient’s pattern of walking.
After defeating 18,000 other contestants in 2022, he received more than $127,000 in grants from the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest. Some of the company’s best engineers served as his guides and mentors, according to the Guardian.
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Not new to innovation, Chadalavada made a “heat detector” at the age of 12, to check on his friends’ body temperatures while they were playing cricket.
The “heat detector” would warn them when to stop playing when their body temperatures started increasing and couldn’t take the heat anymore.
Following his exams in March, he will complete the monitor’s last set of adjustments to have it ready for release in September this year.
He wants the price of the gadget to be on the lower side so that a vast majority of people can afford the same.
Indian PM Modi also appreciated the young inventor for his efforts and mentioned on X, how he “really admired” him.
The young innovator would like to attend a university abroad to study robotics in the future.
His goal is simple, “I wish to make goods to support the needs of people in India for the whole world.”
