The future of senior citizen caregiving raises questions, concerns, and opportunities for innovation. According to the US Census Bureau, by 2034, the number of adults over the age of 65 will surpass those under the age 18 for the first time in US history.
To EE senior Melanie Herbert, Founder and CEO of Sync Labs, the exponential growth of the senior population has a direct impact on senior living communities. Citing research from Aritzon, AARP, HCAOA, and NAC, Herbert asks one to consider the fact that in 2019, seniors were unattended 84 percent of time. One caregiver remained responsible for eight seniors. Looking ahead, immigration laws may reduce the availability of paid caregivers. Couple that with the fact that the senior living community industry already has a high turnover rate, and one can envision a future marked by diminished safety and quality of care, Herbert said.
Enter the Sync Labs’ Alice, an AI companion to caregivers, a privacy-first AI sensor and co-pilot for senior living communities. Using proprietary vision technology, Alice detects key behaviors—like bathroom trips, meal completion, and medication adherence—without recording video. This real-time insight empowers caregivers to provide more personalized and effective care. So far, Sync Labs have launched 5 pilots. Two have already generated revenue.
Herbert created Sync Labs during the 2023-2024 academic year; however, she partnered with SE seniors Hope Lane and Alexandra Popescu for Penn Engineering’s Senior Design course, run by Professor Yan Van der Spiegel, and Sid Deliwala, Director of ESE Lab Programs. ESE Lecturer Nick McGill-Gardner advises the Sync Labs team.
But who is Alice, and how can she help caregivers? As an AI companion, Alice will function as an information hub, “providing real time data and insights for the seniors they care for,” explained Herbert, Lane, and Popescu. As a mobile app, the designated agency will manage care by accessing the patient’s information. According to Sync Labs’ members, this includes three essential attributes. The first entails the patient’s basic information, including a chart tracking daily activities through computer vision. Monitored in real time as opposed to stored—the information obtained through computer vision will remain HIPPA compliant. Consequently, it will track eating, pill taking, and bathroom activities, finding trends as well anomalies in those activities from kitchens and bathrooms. The second attribute pertains to a recommended care plan, offered daily. And the third attribute will enable caregivers to have the ability to ask Alice questions, including suggestions for activities.
The inspiration for Sync Labs results from Herbet’s childhood experience as a patient at CHOP and Mount Sinai. “For many years of my life, I underwent surgery and chemotherapy treatments and saw the world of caregiving from a patient’s perspective,” Herbert said. “It’s very difficult to give up part of your independence and rely on people for your basic needs: grooming, bathing, dressing, eating.” From that experience, Herbert recognized correlations between the child and senior citizen caregiving experiences.
As for the other two members of the Sync Labs, Popescu knew she wanted to work on healthcare for Senior Design. Herbert’s experience inspired Popescu to join. “I understand how deep of a drive she [Herbert] has to push the product and company forward.” Popescu also wanted to work for a startup with a more established business model. “I did not realize how robust the startup culture was at Penn until now.”
For Lane, the Sync Labs complemented her interest in healthcare. As a dual SE and Finance major, Lane participated in an internship with the Jefferies Group. There, Lane worked with a team advising Elevance on their acquisition of CareBridge, which “also operates with the senior home and community-based services (HBCS),” Lane explained. “Working on Alice this semester has been very fulfilling. I love the opportunity to both work on the nitty gritty of the chatbot algorithms and have macro conversations about the senior care landscape with industry experts.”
As a two-semester commitment, the Sync Labs will continue to test its product for Senior Design in the Spring 2025 term. Currently, the Sync Labs focuses on caregiving at high-end assisted-care facilities. To that end, they have partnered with a facility in Arizona. During the spring term, they will test the effectiveness of Alice through studying the data as well as subsequent weekly interviews with participants. Herbert will focus on fundraising simultaneously.
“With Alex and Hope, we have been able to pinpoint different modifications or iterations [to Alice] and have been able to implement them in real time for customers,” Herbert explained. “And that has been incredibly helpful with supporting a startup,” Herbert emphasized. “We are a very lean team. We’re not an army of people, but dedicated, determined people.”