The narrative originates from my volunteer experience at public nursing homes in San Francisco, where I observed that numerous elderly individuals facing mobility challenges did not attain optimal results post-rehabilitation. I noticed that the phenomenon of “Over Care” frequently hindered opportunities for elderly individuals to regain mobility. Caregivers face challenges in intuitively assessing the remaining mobility of elderly stroke patients, often resulting in excessive assistance. This “Over Care” can prematurely induce dependency on wheelchairs among the elderly, leading to a permanent loss of mobility.

Since then, I’ve been contemplating whether I could use design to help caregivers and the elderly better discern the elderly stroke patients’ mobility capabilities. The goal is to avoid overprotectiveness while maintaining the elderly’s self-esteem.

Stroke rehabilitation can be a challenging and lengthy process, particularly for elderly patients who may face a variety of physical and cognitive obstacles. To address this issue and improve the quality of life for elderly stroke patients, Vibe has been designed: an intelligent wearable device that can help monitor and improve muscle mobility. The wearable, which can be strapped onto the limbs using Velcro, features an innovative fabric interface that displays the user’s muscle activity in real-time. When the user is not exerting any muscle activity or the device is powered off, the fabric displays in gray. However, when the user contracts their muscles, the fabric covering the active muscle parts turns green, providing instant feedback on the user’s physical activity. Vibe’s built-in biological monitoring system will transmit data to the mobile application. Elderly can check their training progress and improvement at any time. This innovative product has the potential to revolutionize stroke rehabilitation for elderly patients, helping them to regain their independence and improve their self-recognition.

It is challenging for products to provide functional supports as well as emotional cares for the elderly user group. Being able to get real-time feedback on their own muscle activities is not only an internal drive to rehab, and it is also a deepened emotional comfort to claim their independency. On the tech side, Vibe proactively integrate piezoresistive sensors (Medical testing), electrodes, and thermal wire fiber (Fashion industry). Vibe Also provide CMF plans to better fit elderly users aesthetically.