Forbes discusses Awake Labs, a start-up co-founded by MECH alumna Andrea Palmer

Card 002

Reveal measures anxiety and sends the data to an app in real time, so that caregivers can intervene before a meltdown happens. (Photo courtesy of Andrea Palmer)

Andrea Palmer, CEO of Awake Labs, started working on Reveal while she was a student at UBC. (Photo courtesy of Andrea Palmer)

Awake Labs, a start-up company co-founded by MECH alumna Andrea Palmer, is “ramping up” according to Forbes this week. The company’s first product, called Reveal, is an anxiety-monitoring device designed primarily (but not exclusively) for people with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). “To detect and report when anxiety and stress are on the rise,” Janet Burns of Forbes explains, “the device monitors a wearer’s heart-rate, body temperature, and sweat levels using high-tech tools similar to those found in fitness trackers … while its connected app gives caregivers data-based insight into when, how, and why meltdowns might happen.”

Conceived and partially developed while Palmer was a student at UBC and with the help of UBC’s New Venture Design Course and Coast Capital Savings Innovation Hub, the device is now available for pre-order through Indiegogo, and the “Super Early Bird Reveal” has already sold out. But the team at Awake Labs hasn’t stopped working on the device. As Palmer told Forbes, they are listening to feedback from people who are interested in the device for a number of reasons, and working on testing the device in different settings. “We’ve had many people contact us who see use cases beyond Autism Spectrum Disorders, for general anxiety, Cerebral Palsy, Borderline Personality Disorder, dementia and many others,” she told Forbes, “After this study has concluded, we will be focusing on testing the efficacy of the anxiety algorithm, and then widen the use-cases beyond ASDs.”

 

Read the full Forbes article here.

See the story here as well: CKNWDigital Trends

Check out the team’s progress or pre-order your own device on Indiegogo.

Wondering how Andrea Palmer got where she is now? Follow the history of Awake Labs through our various stories on Palmer and Reveal:

UBC Engineering Alumni Team Up to Help Families Cope with Autism (April 2016)
Dr. Elizabeth Croft and Alumna Andrea Palmer Win Wendy McDonald Awards (April 2016)
MECH Alumna Andrea Palmer Joins Innovation Hub, Makes Headlines (February 2016)
Mechanical Engineering Student Wins GIC (April 2015)