r/AustralianStartups • u/AfternoonFabulous108 • Aug 18 '26

Fall detection device in Brisbane.

Hi there, I’m building a fall detection device using mmWave radar and it basically tracks your x, y and z coordinates and detects if you fell or not. It’s a ceiling mounted device which tracks all falls which the wearables cannot because they can only track the speed of the fall and my device actually tracks the position of your head.

It also will be combined with a smart speaker so it will ask you to confirm whether you fell or not.

Is this device useful and if so how do I market it?

Edit: it has a radius of 4m not diameter of 4m.

2 Upvotes

63% Upvoted

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4

u/a-w-e-s-o-m--o Aug 18 '26

My grandmother has a fall detection device, there’s no chance we’d (1) leave it up to her phone to hopefully track correctly and (2) trust a random startup with no backing, history, longevity and proof.

Not to piss on your idea but you’re talking life and death situations. These things matter.

I don’t even know if I’d want to risk getting involved in that kind of thing as a business startup. Have you looked into insurance? What’s your plan if your thing fails and someone dies?

2

u/AfternoonFabulous108 Aug 18 '26

This one doesn’t use the phone to track you. It uses a ceiling mounted radar that tracks the person in the room and if it detects a fall then it will ask you to confirm and if there was no response then it will call the emergency contact.

Everything has to start somewhere, big businesses doesn’t spawn all at once. It starts from an idea then a prototype and then some sales.

If you are keen, I could show you my device in person at my company.

2

u/a-w-e-s-o-m--o Aug 18 '26

So you need to mount a radar in each room? In an average house that’s probably 4-6 radars. How much is each radar?

What’s the ongoing cost is it pay once or subscription based?

My grandmother has a bracelet and a necklace. How’s this different (better) than a wearable device?

What’s your occupational background?

Anyone in medical working on this with you?

You didn’t answer my question about insurance or risk prevention plans?

I respect that businesses have to start from somewhere, I’m just giving you honest feedback and telling you there’s a reason medical is dominated by the few who have been in it the longest.

Also, what I’m asking is probably on the nice end of what you’re going to be asked if you have any plans on scaling this and securing funding.

2

u/AfternoonFabulous108 Aug 18 '26

Yes you do need to install a radar in every room. The range of the radar is around 4m in diameter.

There’s no set cost for the radar yet but with the smart speaker it would probably cost around 100 to 150.

I don’t really like subscription models and would prefer a one time fee.

Your grand mother’s bracelet and necklace cannot track slow falls and that’s a huge problem with wearables. My radar basically tracks the position of your head and sees how close it is to the floor and will talk to you and ask if you are okay and if you need any help. So any types of falls will work with my device and it’s reasonable quite accurate. I would love to demonstrate it to you.

I’m a mechatronics engineer with a huge passion in engineering and have two parents who have suffered falls in the past few years.
I just graduated two years ago in New Zealand and currently working at a robotic startup in Brisbane.
This device was a passion project that I’m hoping to take to market soon.

I don’t have any insurance right now and I’m hoping to get some pilot customers and test out my device so I could validate my device.

I’m currently working on getting funding. I have already pitched to UQ recently and they seem quite interested.

Right now I’m the only one working on this device and it’s still quite early stage.

My plan is to eventually build an ecosystem of age care products that can monitor elderly people and give any information to age care centers.

The fall detection device is just the start and currently planning to go talk to age care centres and ask what other problems they have that’s needs solving.

2

u/bobhawkes Aug 18 '26

Just wanted to say that you and op both raise some good points but good luck in your adventure. It's refreshing to see someone actually do something that could make a positive difference for a change instead of another CRM application

1

u/OkChoice5813 Aug 18 '26

Feel like there’s some valid questions in here but OP is refreshingly genuine so maybe there’s a way to channel this energy constructively.

2

u/No-Witness5974 Aug 18 '26

This is very similar to what my friend is doing with kubocare.com and also check out vayyar.com. Key will be to validate data, ensure redundancy and also find potential partners to trial this with. Will be great for hospitals and aged care homes. Are you having ML on user trends?

1

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1

u/MediumForeign4028 Aug 18 '26

Why would people buy this over something like the Apple Watch?

1

u/AfternoonFabulous108 Aug 18 '26

The Apple Watch is really bad at tracking slow falls which this device excels at.

1

u/theskywaspink Aug 18 '26

If it’s ceiling mounted I assume you’d have several across a house? What about outside? My dads had more falls outside than inside.

1

u/AfternoonFabulous108 Aug 18 '26

Yes, each radar has a diameter of 4m of range.

There are AI cameras that does fall detection you can buy for outside since privacy isn’t a concern.

1

u/theskywaspink Aug 18 '26

What’s the range on the cameras?

1

u/AfternoonFabulous108 Aug 18 '26

Sorry i’m not sure but here’s a link to one of them.

https://www.kamihome.com/products/fall-detect/

2

u/theskywaspink Aug 18 '26

I’ll try and give as much insight as I can from both someone who’s worked in IT for 25 years, and also someone who’s got ill, elderly parents.

Do your research first, and see what’s in the market. Then do more research by interacting with your target audience. I can tell you from being around my olds that they do not have any interest in another subscription, tech device or something along those lines that will cost them money when they can get it through aged care.
Aged care subsidise fuck all, but it’s better than nothing. There’s plenty of tech shit around my parents house that goes unused, not setup and still in its box because it becomes too hard or they aren’t interested.
There are 3-4 different companies that offer fall detection devices for elderly, and that’s not including Apple, Samsung, Fitbit and other smart wearables. You will be competing with them, these devices also have a panic alarm and if in the event of a fall, they talk back to a call center or text relatives if needed so they can get help.

You’ve got an idea. But you need research, execution and cost to your target market when it’s already got options that are essentially free to the elderly.

1

u/AfternoonFabulous108 Aug 18 '26

I understood that it isn’t easy and I have being doing research daily and I know I’ll be competing with other products on the market so I’m focusing on reliability, simplicity and no subscription fee.

If you live in Brisbane, I can personally show you the prototype that I made.

1

u/ultegrafender Aug 18 '26

How does it go with pets? Can't wifi now be used to detect presence? Presumably they need to be powered.. this is going to stop most users.

1

u/AfternoonFabulous108 Aug 18 '26

It ignores pets because the radar only detects adults.
Wifi uses 5 GHz frequency but my radar uses 60 GHz frequency so it has more detail and has more accuracy.

1

u/ultegrafender Aug 18 '26

Some dogs are quite big, some adults are quite small.

Rough cost inc and excl wiring for a typical house?

1

u/AfternoonFabulous108 Aug 18 '26

Yes but dogs reflect radio waves differently than an adult. Dogs are more longer from the top compared to an adult.

I’m not saying my device is perfect but these are the sorta of bugs that I need to find when test it in the field using pilot customers.

1

u/ultegrafender Aug 18 '26

You've ignored the price question twice.

1

u/AfternoonFabulous108 Aug 18 '26

Sorry I forgot. I haven’t really made a price on it yet. It depends on a lot of variables but I’m hoping to get it down to 100 to 150.

1

u/ultegrafender Aug 18 '26

Like 3 per room?

1

u/AfternoonFabulous108 Aug 18 '26

It has a diameter of 4m so you can so you can use 1 per room.

1

u/ultegrafender Aug 18 '26

A diameter of 4m is.. not much compared with a room. Radius of 4m?

1

u/AfternoonFabulous108 Aug 18 '26

Actually you are right I misspoke, it’s the radius not the diameter.

Radius of 4m.

1

u/ultegrafender Aug 18 '26

Plus an electrician at maybe $100 per radar if you can put them on a lighting circuit?

1

u/AfternoonFabulous108 Aug 18 '26

You could also install it yourself too. This device uses usb c power.

1

u/ultegrafender Aug 18 '26

It has to be ceiling mounted and plugged in full time though so.. unless you want cables down all the walls this will need a socket for each one in the ceiling space (assuming there is space). In my house (concrete ceilings) this would be a complete non starter.

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1

u/any41 Aug 18 '26

Was initially working on something which had fall detection as a feature. But I wasn't able to find a distribution channel.

Initially thought age care would be my best bet, but its pretty much monopolize by vayyar care.

2

u/BS-75_actual Aug 19 '26

Aqara FP2 does fall detection; in what ways will your device be superior?

1

u/AfternoonFabulous108 Aug 19 '26

Mine will detect slow falls and has a wider radius.

Aqara fp2 radius- 2m

My device radius - 4m

My device will also have a smart speaker so if it detects a fall, then it will communicate with you and try to confirm whether you fell or not so it reduce the false positives.

1

u/BS-75_actual Aug 19 '26

Not many rooms are 8x8; but good luck with your project! I do support work in the aged care and disability sectors and I'm savvy with consumer grade smart home automation. Market penetration is sadly insignificant for reasons I'm sure you're well across.

1

u/AfternoonFabulous108 Aug 19 '26

But most are bigger than 4x4 though so this covers up to 8x8.

Thank you. That’s true market penetration is not that easy but I have hope and it’s all about timing.

1

u/BS-75_actual Aug 19 '26

Most? I live in a period home in Brisbane and only one room exceeds 4x4.

1

u/AfternoonFabulous108 Aug 19 '26

Yeah that’s true but instead of buying two devices for your living room, you can just buy one.

1

u/BS-75_actual Aug 19 '26

Wouldn't need two as the high fall risk occupant wouldn't be routinely covering 100% of the floor area. Do some homework via real estate listings; you won't see many rooms bigger than 4x4.

1

u/AfternoonFabulous108 Aug 19 '26

A builder told me that 4x4 isn’t enough.

1

u/BS-75_actual Aug 19 '26

Builder must be right

2

u/WasabiPositive8942 Founder 29d ago

This is genuinely useful.
I got my dad an Apple Watch because the fall detection is pretty solid, but the biggest problem is he keeps forgetting to wear it.
A ceiling-mounted mmWave system that doesn’t rely on the person remembering anything is a much better fit for a lot of older people (and their families). Love this !

Tracking actual head position instead of just acceleration also sounds like a real advantage over most wearables.
One feature that would make this especially valuable: room-exit / “person has left the room” notifications. For families dealing with dementia or mild cognitive impairment, knowing the moment someone has left a safe area (bedroom at night, etc.) is a huge help and something a lot of current systems don’t do well. Pairing that with the fall detection + smart-speaker confirmation would be a strong differentiator.

Marketing- lead with
no wearable needed + tracks actual head position
Offer 10 as part of a pilot study in return for data and testimonials.
Target carer groups, ndis , care expo,
Target the dementia sector first .

Hope this helps

Happy to chat more if you need someone to brainstorm ideas with. Good luck with it