Augmented Reality Personalized Motion Tracking Assessment and Improvement Technology for Fall Prevention in a Community Setting Using Mobile Phone

More than 1 in 4 people 65 and older fall each year, leading to more than $50 billion in annual spending for treatment, and on an upward trajectory. Exercise programs are proven to reduce fall risk for older adults, by improving muscle strength, balance, and gait instabilities. Fall prevention programs are encouraged by the CDC, NIA, and many other organizations, and are often provided by community-based organizations and other institutions. While fall prevention programs are an effective intervention, the impact of current programs is mitigated by cost to administer, lack of scalability, inability to reach underserved populations, lack of encouragement of ongoing usage, and inability to track adherence and health outcomes in a systematic way. Older adults are typically unaware of proper exercise regimens for their specific needs. Currently, the project team believes no fall prevention programs -- either at community centers, other establishments, or at home -- are delivered nationally, affordably delivered, and efficiently administered to broad populations that achieve adherence with effective outcomes. KINIMA Inc., is a women-owned company incorporated in 2016 and incubated in both University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Venture Initiative Program and Stanford University’s StartX and commercially offered. THE KINIMA Seniors latest offering is a ground-breaking, novel technology that uses computer vision with no on-body sensors, an innovative side-by-side view through augmented reality guidance with proprietary content, body joint tracking and artificial intelligence, plus multiple forms of feedback to provide a digital 2-way comprehensive fall prevention exercise platform.The proposed Phase I study seeks to determine the KINIMA Seniors mobile phone motion tracking platform’s feasibility, acceptability, and accuracy to support fall prevention in community-based settings. To that end, project AIMS are: 1) evaluate KINIMA Seniors acceptability, engagement and capability for subjects to complete sessions with little or no intervention by human staff; 2) determine specific forms of content that best promote the desired physical movement among the targeted populations, including: guided exercises, movements, video genres, assessments, feedback, gamification and rewards; and 3) determine the effectiveness of the KINIMA technology for automated tracking of participant usage and movement for supporting productive fall prevention activities with widely accepted fall risk measures. The KINIMA automated assessments will be compared against tracking by a human, which is the approach taken by most clinicians today to assess fall risk. These AIMS support the NIA’s mission and research priorities focused on helping senior adults age in place through the use of assistive devices and technologies. KINIMA Seniors assistive mobile application will support older adults, caregivers, and therapists in mitigating age-related physical challenges, particularly in fall prevention. Computer vision and augmented reality features enable real-time user feedback without wearables or other gear —on-screen visual guide-rails, duration counting, and repetition tracking; KINIMA automated tracking is done instantaneously and will be measured against tracking by a human to assess concordance. KINIMA Seniors has enormous commercial potential, and this Phase I study is a major milestone along that path to commercialization and allows project overseers to assess user acceptability of the features and effectiveness of the automated measures. Phase II will continue with determining the efficacy of the platform in improving fall risk outcomes through measuring progress over time.