Silene Systems

🌿 Inspiration

• We saw how easily older adults living alone forget symptoms and miss meds, while doctors work with memory, not data.
  
• We wanted to build something that feels like a kind, tech‑savvy relative quietly looking out for you, not a cold robot.

✅ What it does

• Silene Systems helps older adults track how they feel each day using simple voice or tap‑friendly check‑ins.
  
• It turns daily logs into a clear health timeline, AI‑generated insights, and a one‑page summary for doctors, and optionally shares gentle alerts with family.

🧱 How we built it

• We used Next.js + Tailwind for the frontend, Supabase for the backend and auth, and Claude API for summarisation and pattern‑spotting.
  
• Voice check‑ins are powered by ElevenLabs or Web Speech, and the whole flow is built around a simple database of user logs, meds, and alerts.

⚠️ Challenges we ran into

• Translating complex medical intuition into simple, non‑diagnostic AI prompts without overstepping.
  
• Balancing rich insights for family with strict privacy and consent for the user, especially around “always‑on” monitoring.
  
• Keeping the UI truly elderly‑friendly under time pressure—large buttons, simple language, and zero jargon.

🏆 Accomplishments that we’re proud of

• We built a working voice‑first companion that actually understands patterns in symptoms, meds, and activity.
  
• We created a respectful, privacy‑first flow that connects family and carers without surveillance‑style design.
  
• Our one‑page doctor summary already feels like a meaningful tool that can save time in real‑world clinics.

📚 What we learned

• Elderly users don’t need “smart” tech; they need simple, predictable, and kind tech.
  
• Ethics in health AI isn’t an add‑on at the end—it has to shape every screen and every API call from day one.
  
• Good UX and good ethics are the same thing when you’re building for vulnerable or isolated users.

🔮 What’s next for Silene Systems

• Integrate with wearables and simple BP / step‑count devices to capture more objective data.
  
• Explore safe, consented pathways to share anonymised datasets with research teams, improving rare‑disease and chronic‑condition insights.
  
• Expand into Irish‑specific features: stronger HSE‑style reporting, GP‑friendly PDF exports, and multilingual support for non‑English‑speaking elders.

Built With

• html5