Inspiration
The idea for Kynd began with a conversation we had with our mentor early in the hackathon. We all shared a common goal: we wanted to build something meaningful that connected technology with accessibility. As we brainstormed, we realized we had something deeper in common each of us had a family member, friend, or close acquaintance living with Alzheimer’s.
The most personal case came from one of our team members, whose aunt has been living through the progression of the disease. She experiences frequent short-term memory loss, childlike behaviors similar to those of an 8–10 year old, and moments of disorientation that often lead to anxiety and confusion. Over time, these symptoms have manifested in many ways: difficulty recognizing people and places, challenges performing familiar tasks, changes in mood and behavior, and increasing dependence on others for daily activities.
Seeing these moments up close helped us understand that the real pain of Alzheimer’s is not only memory loss, but the emotional stress that comes with it. Moments of confusion can quickly escalate into fear, isolation, and loss of dignity. Kynd was born from the desire to offer a different alternative one that does not attempt to “fix” memory, but instead supports the person emotionally in moments of tension and stress.
Our intention is for the glasses to become a bridge to emotions and the subconscious, helping users reconnect with familiar feelings, memories, and safe spaces
Problem
Alzheimer’s is a growing global challenge. Approximately 1 in 9 Americans aged 65 and older lives with Alzheimer’s-related memory loss, and this number increases to 1 in 3 people aged 85 and older. Age remains the primary risk factor, and by 2060, the number of people aged 65 and older living with Alzheimer’s is projected to reach 13.8 million.
Despite these numbers, many existing solutions focus primarily on medical treatment or cognitive correction, leaving a gap in tools that address emotional safety, dignity, and day-to-day human connection.
Users
Primary users are elderly individuals living with Alzheimer’s or related forms of dementia who experience short-term memory loss, disorientation, and emotional distress during everyday interactions.
Secondary users are family members and caregivers. They play an essential role by curating trusted content—faces, names, relationships, and memories—so the system can provide familiar and emotionally safe information at the right moment.
What it does
Kynd uses Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses as an assistive tool to help reconnect people with familiarity and emotional context. • A family member or caregiver records a short video or photo using the glasses, associating it with a person’s name, relationship, and story. • This content is saved securely in the app gallery. • When the wearer activates the camera, the system uses face recognition to compare the live image with saved content. • If a match is found, the system delivers identification and context through audio feedback using the glasses’ open-ear speakers. • In future iterations, the system may also display visual memory cues or short videos directly in the glasses.
This approach allows recognition to happen naturally, without forcing the user to interact with screens, buttons, or commands.
How we built it
We built Kynd by adapting the meta-wearables-dat-ios project, focusing specifically on the CameraAccess module to enable streaming from the Ray-Ban Meta glasses into an iOS application. • Roboflow was used with a pretrained face recognition model to localize faces. • The iOS app stores captured images in an internal gallery. • We implemented a comparison interface that evaluates Image A vs Image B, confirming whether the images match or not. • This comparison logic represents the first functional milestone of the system. • As a second phase, face recognition will be expanded to associate detected faces with curated personal data and deliver that information through spatial audio.
This layered approach allowed us to validate the core concept within the constraints of the hackathon.
Challenges we ran into
One of our biggest challenges was the technical complexity of the project. Our team came from diverse backgrounds software testing, storytelling, and computer science but we did not have a deeply specialized technical expert. As a result, development took longer than anticipated, especially within the limited time frame of the hackathon.
Another significant challenge was working with only one pair of glasses. The device could not be linked to multiple accounts, and it had to be returned at a specific time, which limited testing and parallel development.
Despite these constraints, the team adapted continuously, learning and iterating under pressure.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Despite technical limitations, we successfully built a working interface capable of comparing two different scenarios in near real time and producing a clear match or no-match result.
Each team member adapted their role based on the project’s needs, contributing their expertise where it was most valuable. We maintained strong collaboration, respected different perspectives, and aligned around a shared vision. Delivering a functional prototype under these conditions is something we are genuinely proud of.
What we learned
Throughout the hackathon, we learned: • How to work with wearable technology and develop on top of an iOS interface connected to smart glasses. • The importance of task distribution and communication when working under extreme time constraints. • That meaningful ideas do not require fully polished implementations to be impactful—clear concepts, validated by real statistics and lived experiences, already have value.
We are satisfied with what we achieved. While the system is not fully developed yet, the concept is solid, the motivation is real, and the problem it addresses is urgent. Kynd represents a strong foundation for future development and real-world impact.
What's next for Kynd
Looking ahead, our focus is on evolving Kynd from a working prototype into a reliable, real-world assistive system that can meaningfully support people living with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers.
In the next phase, we plan to strengthen face recognition and personalization, fully linking detected faces with curated data such as names, relationships, and short memory cues that can be delivered through the glasses’ audio system. This will allow recognition to move beyond confirmation and into emotional context.
We also want to expand interaction support, introducing gentle conversational suggestions that help guide natural, stress-free exchanges when moments of confusion arise. These prompts would be adaptive and always framed as support rather than instruction.
On the technical side, we aim to improve scalability and reliability, including support for recognizing multiple familiar people in the same environment and improving performance under varied lighting and real-world conditions. Having access to more devices will also allow broader testing and refinement.
Finally, we plan to enhance the caregiver experience, refining the companion app so families can easily update photos, videos, and voice recordings in real time, ensuring the system always reflects the most relevant and emotionally safe memories.
Our long-term vision is for Kynd to become an invisible layer of assisted reality one that quietly preserves dignity, reduces anxiety, and helps people remain connected to the moments and relationships that matter most.
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