{"id":5408,"date":"2024-05-28T11:01:45","date_gmt":"2024-05-28T10:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-business-innovation\/?p=5408"},"modified":"2026-03-10T11:01:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T11:01:48","slug":"uwe-bristol-and-milbotix-ltd-announce-new-regional-innovation-fund-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/uwe-bristol-and-milbotix-ltd-announce-new-regional-innovation-fund-project\/","title":{"rendered":"UWE Bristol and Milbotix Ltd announce new Regional Innovation Fund project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">UWE Bristol with Milbotix Ltd have been successful in securing grant funding from Research England&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/new-60-million-regional-innovation-fund-among-measures-to-boost-research-and-development\">Regional Innovation Fund<\/a> (RIF) to form a new 3.5-month project. The project will look at <strong>advancing the integration of kinematic and kinetic sensors for holistic healthcare monitoring in aging adults<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/milbotix.com\/company\/\">Milbotix<\/a> was founded to improve access to digital technologies for people with unmet needs related to dementia and other neurocognitive diseases. Milbotix founder Zeke Steer conceived of the SmartSocks\u00ae after witnessing his great grandmother\u2019s journey with dementia and escalating agitation and aggression. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This project seeks to collect a simulated falls dataset from healthy individuals using motion capture equipment and a range of wearable pressure and IMU devices including Milbotix&#8217;s SmartSock\u00ae prototype. This enhancement delivers precise falls detection and gait tracking capabilities. Our solution prioritizes safety with technological precision for older adults\u2019 healthcare.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"680\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-business-innovation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/05\/logo-green-bg-square-2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5411\" style=\"width:196px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/05\/logo-green-bg-square-2.png 680w, https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/05\/logo-green-bg-square-2-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/05\/logo-green-bg-square-2-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/people.uwe.ac.uk\/person\/carloscifuentes\">Professor Carlos Cifuentes<\/a>, Associate Professor in Human-Robot Interaction, will be leading on this project. He is an expert in robotics and sensing technologies for gait assistance and rehabilitation, alongside human robot interaction. He has studied the clinical conditions and pathologies and the mechanisms stimulating the patients&#8217; recovery and quality of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ben Allen and Yikun Wang will join as associates on the project. Mr Allen is a current PhD student at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uwe.ac.uk\/life\/campus-and-facilities\/bristol-robotics-laboratory\">Bristol Robotics Laboratory<\/a>, and is a versatile electronics engineer, specialising in robotics, and Mr Wang holds an MSc degree in robotics and a BEng degree in Electronic Engineering, bringing expertise to the team in developing assistive robots for older adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Regional Innovation Fund (RIF) is a program designed to support universities in developing innovative projects that have the potential to positively impact their local communities or regions. These funds are allocated by regional or national governments to encourage research, development and collaboration between universities and local industries to spur economic growth and innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Contribution to the UN 2030 sustainable development goals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">UWE Bristol is proud to align our research to the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/\">UN sustainable development goals<\/a>. The above research aligns with the following goals:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/05\/3-good-health-and-well-being-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8353\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/05\/3-good-health-and-well-being-1.png 500w, https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/05\/3-good-health-and-well-being-1-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/05\/3-good-health-and-well-being-1-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 85vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/05\/9-INDUSTRY-INNOVATION-AND-INFRASTRUCTURE.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/05\/9-INDUSTRY-INNOVATION-AND-INFRASTRUCTURE.png 500w, https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/05\/9-INDUSTRY-INNOVATION-AND-INFRASTRUCTURE-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/05\/9-INDUSTRY-INNOVATION-AND-INFRASTRUCTURE-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 85vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UWE Bristol with Milbotix Ltd have been successful in securing grant funding from Research England&#8217;s Regional Innovation Fund (RIF) to form a new 3.5-month project. The project will look at advancing the integration of kinematic and kinetic sensors for holistic healthcare monitoring in aging adults. Milbotix was founded to improve access to digital technologies for &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/uwe-bristol-and-milbotix-ltd-announce-new-regional-innovation-fund-project\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;UWE Bristol and Milbotix Ltd announce new Regional Innovation Fund project&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":5410,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":127,"footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[42,75,226,76],"class_list":["post-5408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-business-innovation","tag-innovation","tag-uwe-bristol","tag-uwe-bristol-research","tag-uwe-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5408"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8355,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5408\/revisions\/8355"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/research-external-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}