When Don Yansen \u201963 arrived at the\u00a0MIT AgeLab for a study on technology in care\u00adgiving for older adults, he didn\u2019t plan to launch another company. But when he heard participants talk about how hard modern devices can be to use, he decided to develop an alternative.<\/p>\n
Yansen, a serial entrepreneur who retired to care for his wife, earned an MIT degree in electrical engineering and a master\u2019s in physics from Northeastern. \u201cWhat I took from MIT was a good education and the feeling I could solve difficult problems,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
One such problem: Many older adults \u201ccan\u2019t even use a modern cell phone,\u201d he says, \u201cand very few people can use something like an Apple Watch.\u201d So Kiwi Health, which he founded in October 2024, sells a wristband controlled primarily by voice. Wearers can set reminders, make calls, send texts, and share health data, all without navigating screens. AI helps interpret these commands, accounting for the way voices may change with age. The device also measures health metrics and automatically alerts caregivers to falls. <\/p>\n
Yansen\u2019s hope, he says, is that it can \u201chelp seniors live the best life that they can.\u201d<\/p>\n