Steady — Because Every Second Matters.

Inspiration

Independence should never come at the cost of safety.

For many older adults, living independently is a source of dignity, comfort, and freedom. Yet, that same independence can become a vulnerability when a medical emergency occurs and nobody is there to notice.

This issue is personal to our team. Several of our members have elderly loved ones who experienced medical emergencies without receiving immediate attention simply because they were living independently.

One of the most concerning risks is known as the long lie, when an older adult remains on the floor for an extended period following a fall, unable to get up or call for help. Research has shown that delayed assistance can significantly worsen health outcomes, turning potentially manageable incidents into life-threatening emergencies.

But what if technology could help bridge that gap?

What if older adults could continue living independently, while their loved ones had greater peace of mind knowing that someone—or something—would check in when it mattered most?

That's why we built Steady.

What It Does

Steady is a smart, connected safety companion designed to support independent older adults through proactive wellness check-ins, vital-sign monitoring, and fall-detection technology.

Rather than requiring caregivers to constantly supervise their loved ones, Steady is designed to recognize situations that may require attention and initiate a simple, respectful check-in.

Our system brings together three primary functions:

1. Daily Wellness Check-ins

Steady encourages regular engagement through daily check-in streaks, helping older adults establish a consistent routine while giving their loved ones an additional sense of reassurance.

2. Heart Rate and Blood Oxygen Monitoring

Using a heart rate and SpO₂ sensor connected to an ESP32-S3 microcontroller, Steady collects physiological measurements that can provide additional context about an individual's well-being.

These measurements are intended to supplement—not replace—professional medical assessment.

3. Fall Detection and Responsive Assistance

Using Espressif's ESP32-S3-BOX-3, ESP32-S3, and ESP32-CAM, alongside MediaPipe's computer vision capabilities, Steady is designed to identify potential falls or concerning movement patterns.

Our goal is not continuous surveillance, but event-driven assistance that respects personal privacy and independence.

When a potential emergency is detected, Steady initiates a three-attempt check-in, giving the individual an opportunity to confirm whether they are okay.

If the individual indicates that they need help, or does not respond after three attempts, Steady is designed to notify designated caregivers or emergency contacts through Telegram, using Photon as part of our notification workflow.

Caregivers can then assess the situation, respond directly, and determine whether emergency services should be contacted.

Steady doesn't replace human care. It helps make sure human care arrives when it's needed.

How We Built It

With just 24 hours to turn our idea into a working prototype, our team divided responsibilities across several interconnected hardware and software components.

We worked with:

ESP32-S3: Microcontroller integration, heart rate and SpO₂ sensor readings, and wireless connectivity.
ESP32-S3-BOX-3: A physical interface for interactive check-ins and communication.
ESP32-CAM: Camera hardware for our computer vision-based fall-detection concept.
MediaPipe: Computer vision and pose-estimation capabilities to support the identification of potential falls.
Telegram and Photon: Our intended caregiver notification and communication workflow.
Paper.design and Claude: Tools that accelerated our interface design, dashboard prototyping, and visualization of the caregiver alert experience.

Each team member took ownership of a different component, but no component could function independently. Our biggest engineering challenge was connecting these individual systems into one coordinated experience.

We had to consider how sensor readings would travel through the network, how a potential fall would trigger a check-in, how the interface would communicate with the user, and how caregivers would ultimately receive an alert.

What appeared to be a straightforward user experience required multiple layers of hardware, software, communication, and interface design working together.

Challenges We Ran Into

Our greatest challenge wasn't a lack of ideas. It was deciding how to bring those ideas to life within 24 hours.

We quickly discovered that building a connected hardware system is very different from designing one on paper.

Every component introduced new questions. Could the microcontrollers communicate reliably? Would the sensors provide usable readings? Could the hardware, backend, computer vision, and dashboard operate together?

Much of our time was spent troubleshooting connections, testing individual components, and figuring out how to integrate technologies that were unfamiliar to us.

Our team also came from different academic and technical backgrounds. Not everyone had experience working with microcontrollers, computer vision, or embedded systems.

At one point, even our business major had to become a hardware engineer overnight.

Three of our team members had been awake for more than 26 hours, working through challenges, learning new tools, and trying to make every remaining hour count.

We also had to make difficult decisions about scope. There were many features we envisioned, but not enough time to implement and validate everything to the standard we wanted.

Rather than attempt to build an entire finished product, we focused on establishing the foundation: proving individual components, developing the system's core logic, and demonstrating how these technologies could eventually work together.

Accomplishments That We're Proud Of

We're proud of how much we learned, built, and adapted in such a short period.

Within 24 hours, we made progress on integrating physiological sensors with ESP32 hardware, exploring MediaPipe for fall detection, developing our interface concept, and designing a notification workflow for caregivers.

But our biggest accomplishment extends beyond the prototype itself.

We learned how to build outside our comfort zones.

Every member contributed different strengths, from technical development and hardware experimentation to research, product strategy, interface design, and storytelling.

When something didn't work, we had to rethink our approach, redistribute responsibilities, and adapt to the resources we actually had.

It wasn't always efficient. It certainly wasn't always easy. But every successful connection, every sensor reading, and every component that finally responded represented progress.

Steady became more than a technical project. It became a demonstration of what a multidisciplinary team can accomplish when everyone is willing to learn and contribute.

What We Learned

One of our most important lessons was that building a meaningful product requires more than getting the technology to work. It requires understanding the people who will depend on it.

For older adults, a safety device should not feel intrusive, intimidating, or complicated. It should be approachable, reliable, and respectful of their autonomy.

For caregivers, the goal is not to receive more notifications. It is to receive the right information at the right time, so they can make informed decisions.

We also learned the importance of reliability, especially when designing technology that could influence someone's safety. Detecting a potential fall is only one part of the challenge. Confirming whether assistance is needed, reducing false alarms, maintaining connectivity, and communicating clearly are equally important.

Most importantly, we learned that time is not only a constraint in a hackathon. It is also central to the problem we're trying to solve.

In an emergency, the time between something going wrong and someone realizing it can make all the difference.

What's Next for Steady

Our goal was never to create a perfect, medical-grade device in 24 hours.

It was to build the strongest foundation we could with the knowledge, time, and materials available to us.

Moving forward, we hope to refine Steady through improved hardware integration, more reliable fall detection, better sensor-data interpretation, and a more intuitive check-in experience.

We also want to explore privacy-conscious detection methods, stronger alert escalation protocols, and additional safeguards to minimize false positives and missed emergencies.

Before considering real-world safety use, the system will require substantial testing and validation.

Beyond technical development, we hope to introduce Steady to families within our personal networks, beginning with conversations and feedback from relatives, family friends, and caregivers who understand these challenges firsthand.

We believe meaningful adoption can begin with trust, personal experiences, and word of mouth.

Our long-term vision is to make Steady an accessible companion for older adults who value their independence and families who want to support it.

Because independence shouldn't mean being alone when help is needed.

And sometimes, the most important thing technology can do is make sure someone is there.