A fall-fighting robot

Why it matters: Falls are among the most serious health risks for senior citizens, according to peer-reviewed medical research.

• About 30% of adults 65 and older experience at least one fall per year, resulting in 800,000 U.S. hospitalizations.

How it works: Paul looks like a smoke detector installed on the ceiling. There’s no camera or audio recorder — instead it uses radar-based motion detection to analyze residents’ stride lengths, instability, postures and gaits to determine fall risks, said Sandro Cilurzo, co-founder and CEO of Helpany, the tech company behind Paul.

• Paul compiles a daily report of residents’ movement changes for staffers, flagging residents who may need extra assistance or a medical check-in.
• It also determines the 10 residents most at risk of falling on any given day and sends an alert when they attempt to get out of bed in the middle of the night so a staffer can assist them.

By the numbers: Fellowship Square Historic Mesa consistently experienced an average of 20 falls per month among its 125 residents before Paul, assisted living director Tawnya Christensen told Axios.

• Within six months of Paul’s January 2024 arrival, falls were down to about three per month, none of which occurred overnight or resulted in a life-altering injury.
• That’s continued for almost two years now, she said.

The intrigue: Fellowship Square Historic Mesa was the first U.S. facility to deploy Paul, and Christensen was skeptical, she told us.

• She’s not anymore. In addition to fall prevention, she’s also used Paul’s motion tracking to diagnose residents in the early stages of infections, allowing them to get antibiotics and recover at home instead of having prolonged hospital stays.
• “It literally changes the trajectory of a person’s life,” Christensen said.

What residents are saying