Translating the silent body into understandable information.

NeuroWeave grew from a family’s question: what is she trying to tell us? We are exploring a soft wearable sensing system for people with complex motor and communication needs, including those living with cerebral palsy and hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury.

Invisible signals. Unheard voices.

Muscle tension, small movements and changes in posture can leave caregivers wondering: is this pain, discomfort, stress, or a change that needs attention? Care depends on careful observation and experience. Uncertainty can add to delayed responses, family stress and caregiver fatigue.

Our research asks whether clearer recordings of those changes could support a second way of listening, alongside human care and professional judgement.

The proposed technology

• Soft wearable design: a textile-based sleeve, with fit and comfort treated as development priorities.
• EMG sensing: recording muscle activity and tension.
• IMU tracking: recording movement and posture.
• AI-assisted pattern recognition: exploring changes against an individual baseline.
• Connected observations: investigating how measurements could be shared with mobile or research systems.

From signal to insight

1. Wear. Fit the proposed sleeve comfortably on the arm.
2. Sense. Gather measurements of muscle activity, movement and posture.
3. Stream. Explore wireless transfer through a microcontroller to a phone or research environment.
4. Analyse. Investigate individual patterns and changes over time.
5. Act. Develop useful summaries and explore future caregiver alerts.

Associations between measured patterns and pain, spasms, comfort, distress or seizure-related events are research questions. Signal reliability, interpretation and any predictive features require testing and validation.

Why this work matters

For the person receiving care

Our ambition is to make needs easier to notice and discuss, support timely attention to changes, and keep dignity and quality of life at the centre of development.

For families and caregivers

We aim to support observations over time, reduce uncertainty where evidence allows, and make conversations with care professionals more informed.

For care and research partners

Future research could explore remote observations, individual baselines and clearer records of everyday care. These are development goals, rather than promised clinical outcomes.

Born from love. Built with responsibility.

NeuroWeave began with Samira and Diana’s lived experience. A young girl could not easily put discomfort, distress or a need into words. Her family kept watching, interpreting and asking questions.

What is she trying to tell us?

That question became a mission. The work ahead brings together careful engineering, everyday experience and research that can be tested, challenged and improved.