With their thick plastic frames and wide arms, the chunky glasses look like 3D specs handed out in a 1990s cinema – not the kind of technology you associate with 21st-century science fiction.
But put them on, and it’s the real world that takes on a new dimension.
Designed to help people with dementia, the glasses provide wearers with a screen in front of their eyes on which a blue target floats that can be aimed at objects.
The system not only identifies items, such as a kitchen appliance, but it can provide information about how to use them and use artificial intelligence (AI) to learn from past interactions.
With a built-in microphone and speakers, the glasses can record and play memories associated with objects, while a soft female voice with a Scottish lilt interacts with wearers.
They are one of five projects to make the final of the longitude price for dementia – A £1m grant for technology designed to help people with such conditions live independently.
“The premise of the glasses … is that you just look around and the assistant guides you through the experience,” said Szczepan Orlins, the director of Animorph, one of the companies behind the device. “So in a way we’re trying to jump over the interfaces that you have to learn [to use a] telephone, and build only on natural affordances.”
Although the devices are working – the glasses seem rather heavy, and don’t handle the background hum of air conditioning, for example – expectations are high.
“AI offers exciting opportunities to help those with dementia remain active and independent, enabling them to remain in their own homes for as long as possible. By harnessing the power of technology, we can support memory recall and help individuals maintain their daily routines,” says Kate Lee, the chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Association, which is jointly funding the prize with Innovate UK.
The quintet has been whittled down from 24 semi-finalists who previously shared £1.9m in funding, with each of the five finalists receiving an additional £300,000 for development. The overall winner, who will win the £1m prize, will be announced in early 2026.
Among the other finalists are two teams behind different wearable devices. One uses football field sensor technology to anticipate falls, while the other collects data on wearers’ daily habits and asks them about actions when following their routines. If the wearer is unresponsive, the device can alert a caregiver.
Another finalist developed a home help device that combines a screen in a device with what looks like a traditional phone, enabling video calls among other things.
Also in the works is a team that has created a privacy-based monitoring system, which looks like a Freeview box, which sits in the home of the person with dementia.
Dr Matt Ash, co-founder and chief technology officer at Supersense Technologies, which developed the device, said that rather than relying on intrusive technology such as cameras or microphones, the system uses radar to monitor the location and movement of people across multiple locations. rooms and uses machine learning – a type of AI – to identify when something unusual is happening.
It can then share reassuring SMS updates, insights about changes, or even urgent alerts, with family members and carers. “We can look at trends and how behavior changes as symptoms progress, allowing family members to intervene at the right time so they can right-size their care interventions,” Ash said.
“One of the features that really resonates with the families we work with is just that daily notification in the morning that mom is up and about and the heating is on in the house.”
Each team worked with people with a lived experience of dementia and provided crucial feedback and insights.
“We don’t want to develop something that nobody wants,” Ash said. “And we really want to solve unmet needs that are real and grounded in reality.”
Tris Dyson, the managing director at Challenge Works, which runs the prize, said the use of AI was particularly exciting, stressing that such technology could bring benefits.
“You can imagine that this is the beginning of a whole series of AI-based technologies that, where these guys start, others will follow [and] it will be really exciting in this space,” he said.
