MEDIA RELEASE: Sleeptite’s REMi Now Achieving Heart Rate and Respiratory Data
Sleeptite’s REMi is now capturing heart rate and respiratory data
REMi can now monitor presence, posture, position, respiration, and heart rate
REMi has been developed for the aged care sector with the help of a $1.7 million Federal Government Cooperative Research Centres – Project (CRC-P) grant
The three year CRC-P is now complete with Sleeptite, RMIT University and Sleepeezee Bedding Australia successfully achieving all project milestones
Melbourne-based innovation and technology company Sleeptite, today announced REMi, a sensor lined, non-invasive, resident monitoring and alert system, is successfully extracting heart rate, and respiratory data from the surface of a bed.
REMi was created in collaboration with RMIT University and Sleepeezee Bedding Australia, with the help of a $1.7 million Federal Government Cooperative Research Centres – Project (CRC-P) grant and has the potential to revolutionise the aged care industry.
The REMi system can now monitor the presence, posture, position, respiratory rate, and heart rate of a person in bed and provide real-time feedback to a nurse, carer or loved one about the person’s state of health. Please see a detailed explanation of REMi here
Earlier this week Sleeptite also announced that REMi will be used in a world-first sleep diagnosis evaluation trial in partnership with Flinders University and RMIT.
The CRC-P Grant was vital in ensuring that the collaboration achieved its vision to develop REMi and saw the partnership take fundamental research breakthroughs out from the labs of RMIT University and translate them into a commercial outcome set to benefit the lives of everyday Australians.
“True collaboration is incredibly difficult to achieve within a single organisation, let alone attempting to get three different companies, from three different sectors to work together to develop technology and advanced manufacturing techniques over three years,” Sleeptite CEO Cameron van den Dungen said.
“The success of REMi is testament to the culture of the businesses involved, but more importantly the people that worked on this program. They come from different backgrounds, different cultures, different genders and different skillsets, but they all remained focused on delivering a product that would have a real-world benefit for our elderly,” he continued.
“The Federal Government, through the CRC-P grant, helped bridge that gap and enabled the fast-tracking of the commercialisation of REMi,” van den Dungen said.
In March this year, Jane O’Dwyer, (CEO of the Cooperative Research Centres Association), joined Sleeptite at their Melbourne test facility and manufacturing home to learn more about the next phase for the technology – aged care field trials and a Melbourne based advanced manufacturing push.
“In my role as the CRC Association CEO, I'm privileged to see many CRC and CRC-P success stories. Sleeptite's REMi stands out as a CRC-P success story.”
“Nanotechnology is not something that is automatically associated with making aged care better and predicting falls before they happen. But with the Sleeptite REMi system, it potentially becomes a critical component of aged care, and in the longer term, in the care of infants, patients in hospital and any other setting where smart biometric monitoring can improve care, performance and outcomes.”
“Sleeptite’s REMi is one of those innovations that will rapidly become an item of everyday use in aged care and other settings, and one of those innovations where we will be able to say to people with pride, "Did you know that was invented in Australia?" It really is a remarkable development, and a remarkable industry-research collaboration.”
Sleeptite CEO Cameron van den Dungen with Jane O’Dwyer, (CEO of the Cooperative Research Centres Association
Throughout the three-year CRC-P grant project Sleeptite, RMIT University and Sleepeezee Bedding Australia achieved all milestones set out by the project including:
Developing advanced manufacturing processes for new non-invasive sensor technology
Extracting and analysing respiration data
Extracting and analysing heart-rate data
Education and dissemination of results and commercialisation of technology
To create REMi the collaborators achieved two world-first advancements, developed in Melbourne:
Created flexible and stretchable sensors that can monitor movement and vital signs when embedded in fabrics sitting external to the human body; and
Created advanced manufacturing techniques and equipment required to manufacture the sensor platform at scale for commercialisation.
The CRC-P has also provided educational experiences for nine RMIT students.
The importance of grant programs like the CRC-P was recently highlighted in a report released by the CSIRO outlining the clear benefits for small to medium enterprises in collaborating with universities.
The report found that enterprises that collaborated with universities were more successful overall and much more likely to create new Intellectual Property.
The full report can be downloaded here
CRC-P grants are awarded to industry and research partnerships seeking to develop a product, service or process that will solve problems for industry and deliver real outcomes.
Quotes attributable to Cameron van den Dungen, CEO - Sleeptite
“One of the hardest things for any researcher to do is to find partners and funding to translate their research into a commercial output, which can then have real and tangible benefit for industry and the broader community.
“The Federal Government, through the CRC-P grant, has bridged that gap and enabled the fast-tracking of the commercialisation of REMi.”
“True collaboration is incredibly difficult to achieve within a single organisation, let alone attempting to get three different companies, from three different sectors to work together to develop technology and advanced manufacturing techniques over three years.
The success of our program is testament to the culture of the businesses involved, but more importantly the people that worked on this program. They come from different backgrounds, different cultures, different genders and different skillsets, but they all remained focused on delivering a product that would have a real-world benefit for our elderly.”
Quotes attributable to Jane O’Dwyer, CEO – CRC Association
“In my role as the CRC Association CEO, I'm privileged to see many CRC and CRC-P success stories. Sleeptite's REMi stands out as a CRC-P success story.”
“Nanotechnology is not something that is automatically associated with making aged care better and predicting falls before they happen. But with the Sleeptite REMi system, it potentially becomes a critical component of aged care, and in the longer term, in the care of infants, patients in hospital and any other setting where smart biometric monitoring can improve care, performance and outcomes.”
“Sleeptite’s REMi is one of those innovations that will rapidly become an item of everyday use in aged care and other settings, and one of those innovations where we will be able to say to people with pride, "Did you know that was invented in Australia?" It really is a remarkable development, and a remarkable industry-research collaboration.”
Quotes attributable to Bill Mantzis, Managing Director - Sleepeezee Bedding Australia
“The Sleeptite CRC-P has allowed us to develop a good idea from Sleeptite, with the incredible research from RMIT and the manufacturing history of Sleepeezee, and prove that we could, with the right support, deliver a world-first product that has the potential to bring great change to the aged care industry,”
“Through the CRC-P we’ve been able to work directly with the RMIT researchers to adopt new technologies and develop new processes and prove, not only our ability to create a product to solve a real world issue, but our capability to build scale “
“My father started this business with an ambition to change the bedding industry. In joining the CRC-P I wanted to make sure Sleepeezee was going to make a difference in a category that was antiquated and lacking innovation while also ensuring that we can future proof this business and continue to manufacture here in Australia”
Quotes attributable to Professor Madhu Bhaskaran, co-leader of the Functional Materials and Microsystems Research Group, RMIT University
“This collaboration is a model for deep engagement between universities and industry.
“REMi shows the power of true partnership and the extraordinary results we can achieve through a collaboration built on mutual respect and clear, shared goals.
“We’ve gone from lab bench to commercialisation in just three years – solving myriad challenges along the way – to deliver smart home-grown tech that will be manufactured right here in Australia.
“It’s incredibly exciting to see the sensor we developed leaping out from our lab and into the world, to improve the care of some of our most vulnerable people.”
ENDS