• Swindon & Wiltshire News
• Tuesday August 29 2023
• Author Name: Peter Davison

Bristol universities spinout Milbotix launches £500,000 crowdfunding drive

Bristol universities spinout Milbotix has launched a £500,000 crowdfunding drive to bring its innovative SmartSocks to market.

The socks, which track rising distress in the wearer, could improve the well-being of millions of people with dementia, non-verbal autism and other conditions that affect communication.

Inventor Dr Zeke Steer quit his job as a software engineer in the defence industry and took a PhD at Bristol Robotics Laboratory so he could find a way to help people like his great grandmother, who became anxious and aggressive because of her dementia.

He studied for a PhD at Bristol Robotics Laboratory, which is jointly run by the University of Bristol and UWE Bristol.

Now based at UWE’s Future Space labs, Milbotix’s smart socks track heart rate, sweat levels and motion to give insights on the wearer’s well-being – most importantly how anxious the person is feeling.

They look and feel like normal socks, do not need charging, are machine washable and provide a steady stream of data to carers, who can easily see their patient’s metrics on an app.

Dr Steer said: “The foot is actually a great place to collect data about stress, and socks are a familiar piece of clothing that people wear every day.

“Our research shows that the socks can accurately recognise signs of stress – which could really help not just those with dementia and autism, but their carers too.”

The crowdfunding drive will be conducted through the Crowdcube platform.

“Working together with the biggest names in UK dementia care and research, we’ve refined our technology, winning over £1.3 million in grants and investment from bodies including Innovate UK and the Alzheimer’s Society,” said Dr Zeke.

“We are now getting ready to complete the final development of SmartSocks then launch, first in the UK, then further afield where we believe there is a potential market of 7.3 million users.

“To fund the SmartSocks project we are aiming to sell £500,000 of shares in the company through the Crowdcube platform, which will unlock a further £500,000 Combined Investor Partnerships grant from Innovate UK.”