Providing Care for Dementia
Author: Ronit KanjilalWho are you?
I have repeatedly heard this question, each time more painful than the last. Watching my grandma’s memories fade hurt more than anything. What made things worse was the distance between us—when I wasn’t visiting her, I was 8000 miles away, our only form of communication through a phone she barely knew how to use. It felt like there was nothing I could do.
But it was through that same phone I dared to make a change. 8000 miles away, I turned to what I love—computer science. By building an app to help recognize loved ones, I could help from the confines of my home. Even from the other side of the world, I could make a difference.
Using a mobile face-net model, Remember Me leverages facial recognition to reinforce the faces of loved ones. The model works with a training data set with as low as one user-chosen photo. Photos are additionally paired with user-entered information that the app reinforces in the patient's memory through visual cues and other aids.