Embrace improvements on the rise!

Dear supporters,

We are very much looking forward to your E-day — aka the delivery date for your own Embrace! :)
As this precious device is making its way to you, we would like to update you on all the current and upcoming improvements, based on your feedback, that will be implemented.

Detection Algorithms

We’re incredibly satisfied with the excellent results of our latest study, presented at the European Congress on Epileptology in Prague, earlier last week.

The epileptic seizure detection algorithm has improved considerably, reducing the number of false alarms.

Our work — entitled “Improving convulsive seizure detection by exploiting data from outpatient settings using the Embrace wristband” — shows the advantage of adding data from patients wearing Embrace at home to build a convulsive seizure detector.

We collected data from a group of Embrace beta testers and asked them and their caregivers to meticulously report to us the occurrence of convulsive seizures while wearing the Embrace. They also told us when they were engaged in potentially misleading motor activities (e.g., driving on bumpy roads, biking over bumpy surfaces, brushing teeth). This info and new data analytics were helpful to reduce the number of false alarms: in fact seizure detectors built with data coming from Epilepsy Monitoring Units do not show as many interesting activities as in real-life.

Firmware

This is the brain that powers the Embrace. It will receive an important upgrade aimed to boost the power efficiency. Users can expect a full day (> 24 hours) of battery life right now, but this performance will be improving steadily through our continuous work in optimizing the internal processes and the way your body data are managed.

Alert

This app is designed to send a seizure-alert notification to the caregivers using the mobile device’s cellular data or Wi-Fi connection. It’s one of the most important features of the Embrace Alert System and our continuous efforts are directed at the improvement of its connectivity and usability. The app will now be available for both iOS and Android!

Mate

This innovative e-diary app, to be introduced soon, has been optimized to summarize the Embrace watch data for the owner and capture contextual information around events — preview in the picture below.
The Mate App will allow people with epilepsy to better understand how seizures interact with their physical activity, rest and sleep.
Mate will also be very useful for all our other supporters. We’re currently beta testing the app, focusing on the refinement of the app’s user experience.
We’ve also been working on a very special feature to help you get insight into your body’s autonomic stress and what it impacts. We think this feature will be much cooler than what is in most consumer wearables. While this won’t ship yet in the first version, it will be available for a free update to all Embrace customers very soon!

The enhancements listed above are the result of the team’s hard work and efforts on making Embrace an increasingly insightful tool for your everyday life. We keep working while Embrace is being shipped and delivered, and you will see many improvements during the use in the next weeks. We’ll continue treasuring every customer’s feedback in order to keep improving both the device and your experience as user.
And we can’t wait to be back with new updates next week!

A big hug,

The Empatica Team