NAIT alumni team invents smart teddy bear to monitor children’s sleep

A group of former students at NAIT  in Edmonton have been named finalists for a provincial award for inventing a smart teddy bear that can notify parents of issues in their child’s sleeping habits.

It’s a project with origins straight out of a movie.

“We just wanted something child-friendly,” said Denise Alinsasaguin, a member of the NAIT alumni finalist team.

As part of a student project, a group of NAIT engineering technology alumni — Alinsasaguin, Paulina Deng and Nicolette Angara — have transformed a standard fuzzy toy into one that could help kids sleep better at night.

“It’s a Bluetooth-enabled, portable, kid-friendly child sleep monitoring device in the form of a teddy bear,” said Alinsasaguin.

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Dubbed Night Knight, the bear has been fitted with enhancements and is intended to sit on a child’s bedside table while monitoring kids ranging from ages of four to 10.

“It has a circuit board and is outfitted with movement detection, temperature and humidity sensors. Parents will be notified through a smartphone app if a child is experiencing any discomfort while sleeping,” Alinsasaguin said.

The student team says another inspiration for the smart teddy bear is because of how critical sleep is to a child’s development. When they don’t receive enough sleep, it can negatively impact their behaviour and learning ability.

“The merging of a child’s toy with a practical and useful health-related function holds promise for similar applications in the medical field, especially where the safety and welfare of children are concerned,” said Barry Cavanaugh, the CEO of the Association of Science and Engineering Technology Professionals of Alberta.

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The team hopes its device can be useful in its own unique way.

“A lot of the other devices out there have cameras, but movement detection is not super common with other child sleep-monitoring devices,” said Alinsasaguin.

The team has been named one of nine finalists for the 2023 ASET Capstone Project of the Year Award.

“Honestly, our team wasn’t expecting any of this, so being one of the finalists is really great and we’ve just been happy about it, so that’s already a big accomplishment for us being nominated,” Alinsasaguin said.

The team said it will move ahead with the project if investors express interest. The winners of the award will be announced at the end of the month.