HealthTech member
Milbotix
Mr. Zeke Steer, Mr. Mark Ison and Dr. Iveta Eimontaite speak to Eagle Labs HealthTech about Milbotix.
Tell us about your business.
Building on research undertaken at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, U.K., Milbotix is reinventing wearables for people living in care. Our smart socks are designed for people with neurocognitive and neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g. dementia, autism, etc.) and aim to predict agitation linked to distressed behaviours such as physical and verbal aggression. The early recognition of agitation can support pre-emptive interventions targeting the reduction of distress which may be helpful for preventing behavioural escalations.
When did you start your business?
February 2020.
What's been your biggest highlight?
We were fortunate to win a place on the Conception X deep-tech accelerator programme in March 2021. Conception X has been instrumental in helping us to translate a piece of PhD research into a company with the potential to enrich the lives of people traditionally underserved by technology and realise a social good.
What's been your biggest challenge?
Initially, spurred by the COVID pandemic and the transition to remote working, we chose to target our innovation on work-related stress. However, having developed a better understanding of the landscape around the innovation, we chose to pivot back to the origins of the research in the care sector. The challenge was being brutally honest with ourselves about where we could make the biggest impact.
Advice for entrepreneurs starting out
As a technical founder, it's easy to fall into the trap of focusing too much and too early on the technological challenges without giving due consideration to other critical factors such as product market fit and the route to market. Speaking to potential customers and end users and engaging with organisations like Barclays Eagle Labs are imperative for connecting the dots around the technology to move the business forward.