StrideGuard

The Project

This project was inspired by something personal that happened in the winter of 2024, when my grandpa collapsed and was stuck on the floor for hours without any way to call for help. Watching someone who had always been independent suddenly need constant support was difficult for my family and me. We looked into existing products like smartwatches and fall pendants, but my grandpa rejected all of them. That made me realize the problem wasn’t just fall detection — most current solutions aren’t designed with elderly users in mind. Many are overly complicated or feel discouraging to wear because they symbolize a loss of independence. That experience led me to create StrideGuard, a system focused on preventing falls instead of only reacting after they happen. I researched gait behavior and the causes of falls in elderly individuals, then designed a rule-based system that tracks walking patterns using accelerometer data. Unlike traditional systems that only detect sudden impacts, StrideGuard continuously learns a user’s normal walking rhythm and identifies irregularities before a fall may occur. The system then sends alerts and recommendations through the app, such as slowing down or taking a break. The hardest part was building something completely from scratch with very little existing work to reference. I spent a lot of time researching, testing algorithms, debugging hardware, and refining the system to make it more accurate and reliable. Through this project, I learned that technology is most impactful when it’s designed around the real needs of the people using it.

View this project on YouTube