HalleyAssist

Our history

HalleyAssist spent a decade building home-monitoring technology for aged care. We've since stepped back from that platform to work on something new — this page is the record of what we built: the technology, the trials, the research, and the recognition it earned.

Where it started

André Ferretto with his mother

HalleyAssist was founded by André Ferretto, whose mother lived with Alzheimer's. Caring for her showed him how much effort and stress falls on families trying to keep an ageing parent safe at home — and how little technology existed to help. He wanted her to age with dignity in the family home for as long as possible. When he couldn't find a solution that worked, he built one.

That starting point shaped everything after it. The goal was technology genuinely usable by people regardless of cognitive ability — not just capable seniors, but people living with dementia, for whom most smart-home and wearable solutions simply don't work. André built a team of software engineers and partnered with university research groups, clinicians and aged care experts to get there.

What we built

HalleyAssist® was an AI-powered remote monitoring platform for the home: a small hub paired with a discreet array of wireless sensors that learned a resident's normal patterns of movement, sleep and presence, then used that baseline to detect what mattered — a fall, an unusually long period without movement, a break in routine that might signal an emerging health issue.

Cameras or wearables
None
Nothing to charge, wear or press
Typical install
~50 min
No wiring, no drilling, portable
Trial usability
100%
Our own trial finding

Family members and carers saw that information in real time through an app or shared dashboard, with urgent issues pushed immediately as alerts — a fall, being out of bed, a lack of motion — alongside slower-building concerns such as infection, low hydration, or a gradual change in routine. An optional voice speaker could deliver reminders for hydration, medication or appointments.

The hardware was portable, so it could move with a resident from home into residential care. In trial feedback, users typically reported being unaware the hardware was there at all, and did not feel it intruded on their privacy.

The HalleyAssist family app The HalleyAssist carer dashboard

HalleyAssist HealthWatch™

Launched in 2022, HealthWatch extended the platform to Remote Patient Monitoring — connecting approved medical devices for blood pressure, glucose, weight, pulse oximetry and activity, and delivering that data to clinicians as well as family. It was built around a "Hospital in the Home" model: earlier hospital discharge and safe recovery at home, interoperable with existing clinical patient management systems so progress could be tracked against a personalised care plan.

Timeline

  1. Platform and website active

    Company news activity visible from August 2017 onward.

  2. First peer-reviewed publications

    Papers published with ACM and presented at the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

  3. Large field trial in home-based aged care

    Funded by the Commonwealth Home Support Programme Innovation Funding grant. Installations began as COVID-19 lockdowns took hold.

  4. Finalist, Victorian Premier's Design Awards

    Product Design category.

  5. Research collaboration with Optus, Medibank and La Trobe University

    With Northern Health and Proactive Aging, evaluating virtual and remote care technology during and after COVID-19.

  6. AusBiotech "Biggest Week in Biotech"

    Investment partnering event.

  7. Finalist, Ageing Asia Innovation of the Year

    APAC Eldercare Innovation Awards, Singapore.

  8. Good Design Australia Gold Award

    Product Design — Medical and Scientific.

  9. ATSA Independent Living Expo, Melbourne

    Tim Carroll presented "Lessons learned from remote health monitoring during COVID-19 lockdown".

  10. HalleyAssist HealthWatch™ launched

    Extending the platform to Remote Patient Monitoring.

  11. Featured on Australia By Design – Innovations

    Network 10, Season 5 Episode 2.

  12. Rising Star Award, ITAC

    Information Technology Across Care conference.

  13. Good Design Australia Award, HealthWatch™

    Product Design — Medical and Scientific.

  14. Health economics and falls-prediction papers

    Published on arXiv and presented at the HEALTHINF Conference, Portugal.

  15. Finalist, Victorian Premier's Design Awards

    Digital Design category, HealthWatch™.

  16. Good Design Award winner, Social Impact

    HealthWatch™.

In people's homes

In 2020 we ran a large field trial of the platform in home-based aged care, funded by the Australian Commonwealth Department of Health's Commonwealth Home Support Programme. It was observational by design — participants were monitored by a Clinical Care Coordinator, and families received outcomes after the trial concluded — with full ethics approval and oversight from several research organisations and universities. It looked at acceptability to elderly users and their families, carer burden, support for clients with specific needs, alignment with Commonwealth Home Support Programme objectives, and health economics.

What participants said

"Technology makes me anxious but this technology doesn't."

F, 88

"It's there to give you confidence, if anything happens you have help at hand."

M, 81

"This could be really useful and save injuries."

F, 93

"I truly forgot it was here… I tell people there are little sensors all around the house, watching what I do and if I fall over I get some help… I like someone speaking to me first thing in the morning — I will probably miss it when it's gone."

F, 89

"I really forgot it was there… it's not intrusive to our home life."

F, 87

What families said

Without any assistive technology, if your mum was alone, fell, and was unable to recover, how long might it take for care to arrive?

"That's the thing, who knows — if she doesn't press the alarm… could be days. It keeps me up sometimes, how do you know, if she didn't press it. I wouldn't mind getting phone alerts at night, for peace of mind. I appreciate the tech more than mum does."

What are your main concerns about your mum living alone?

"Her falling, being unconscious, mainly, even though her health is ok, she is a bit more frail. Having had a look at the app screenshots, it's incredible, so many — I could read that and know in my head what she was doing. It was really, really eye-opening to have the information at hand, even the heat in the house. It was amazing!"

Would this technology improve your mum's confidence about living alone?

"Yes, yes. It's peace of mind really, to the occupant and loved ones. When she got used to the voice, I think she quite enjoyed it."

Recognition

2021 · Gold Award

Good Design Australia — Product Design, Medical and Scientific

"HalleyAssist® is a great design that eliminates the shortcomings of other attempts to address this same issue. Solutions like this will increasingly become the holy grail of independent living, and this one has been carefully executed, well researched and personally instigated. This device could make a measurable difference to the ability of people to 'age in place'."
Good Design Australia judges
The HalleyAssist team and research partners at the Good Design Awards
Sep 2023 · Winner

Good Design Award — Social Impact, HealthWatch™

Announced 8 September 2023; more than 900 entries were evaluated by over 70 Australian and international jurors.

"HalleyAssist® presents a sensitively-designed solution focused on an area of real need. The 'Hospital in the Home' vision shows great potential for a new era of healthcare."
Good Design Awards jury
Sep 2022 · Award

Good Design Australia — Product Design, HealthWatch™

"HalleyAssist HealthWatch™ is a clever digital solution. Its multiple sensors that can be placed around the home, allowing people in need to be monitored by loved ones or healthcare providers. Inspired by a vision for independent living, the design team is commended on their careful multi-stakeholder co-design process."
Good Design Australia jury
Jul 2022 · Rising Star

Information Technology Across Care (ITAC) Awards

The aged care industry's technology awards, presented at the ITAC conference in Sydney, 12–13 July 2022.

"The HalleyAssist® team is privileged to be working with experts who believe better healthcare is achievable through connecting vulnerable people with their family members, care providers and physicians."
André Ferretto, Founder and Managing Director
2023 · Finalist

Victorian Premier's Design Awards — Digital Design

HealthWatch — Remote Patient Monitoring was named a finalist in the Digital Design category.

2020 · Finalist

Victorian Premier's Design Awards — Product Design

HalleyAssist was chosen as a finalist in the Product Design category.

Dec 2020 · Finalist

Ageing Asia Innovation of the Year

The APAC Eldercare Innovation Awards recognise organisations across Asia-Pacific demonstrating eldercare innovation, held alongside the Ageing Asia World Ageing Festival in Singapore.

Jul 2022 · Featured

Australia By Design – Innovations

HalleyAssist was featured in this global innovations television production, Season 5 Episode 2, which aired on Network 10.

Research & publications

The technology was developed with university research groups, and the underlying AI and health-economics work was published and presented in peer-reviewed and conference settings.

Press & partners

In the news

Research partnership: Swinburne University of Technology

We ran a research project with Swinburne to improve detection of unusual patterns of behaviour from sensor data, evaluating both simple single-sensor anomaly detection and more complex multi-sensor aggregate models, aimed at flagging when a user might be unwell or incapacitated. Only anonymised, summarised data was used in any resulting publications or presentations.

Partners and collaborators

La Trobe University Swinburne University of Technology National Ageing Research Institute Northern Health Medibank Optus Proactive Aging Baptcare AusBiotech ATSA

That was then

We've stepped back from the home-monitoring platform to build something new for the same people.

What we're building now