Kenneth Shinozuka – Safe Wander

How the simple observance of his grandfather stepping out of bed led to awards and a successful product that directs social change.

When Kenneth was 14, he lived in a 3 generation home. His grandfather suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, and as his disease worsened, he began to leave his bed at night. Kenneth’s aunt was his grandfather’s main caretaker, and she made various attempts to stop this from happening – culminating in her doing her best to stay awake at night, but sometimes missing Kenneth’s grandfather getting out of his bed.

Then, one day, when Kenneth was sitting in his home, he saw his grandfather get out of his bed; as soon as his foot hit the floor, Kenneth was struck by an idea: what if he could put a pressure sensor on his grandfather’s foot. Kenneth then created the device himself, by circuiting an object that could make a small enough wireless signal to go to a phone, coding an app that would make the phone ring, and finally, installing this app in his aunt’s phone. His invention caught 100% of his grandfather’s wanderings! From this, Kenneth decided to establish SafeWander as a product that could help others as it helped his family.

From SafeWander, Kenneth won the 2014 Google Science Fair and the WEBMD 2015 Health Hero Award. He has received a patent for his invention and is officially the CEO and founder of SafeWander. Recently, the company partnered with SensaRX in order to make the product more scaleable. In his video the 2014 Google Science Fair released, he shared how his invention led to him expressing a greater desire to learn more about neuroscience, specifically in regard to caring for the elderly members of society. Kenneth dedicated himself to searching for a cure for Alzheimer’s.