A walking stick that helps people with Parkinson's keep moving
Freezing of Gait leaves the brain sending signals to walk while the feet suddenly stop responding. The Smart Walking Stick answers with three evidence-based cues at once: a steady beat, a gentle vibration in the handle, and a laser line on the floor. It began as a final year dissertation inspired by my grandad, and it is now continuing as an MRes research project at Swansea University.
When walking suddenly stops
Parkinson's disease affects millions of people around the world. One of its most debilitating symptoms is Freezing of Gait: mid-step, the brain sends the signal to walk, but the feet fail to respond. Episodes are unpredictable, they raise the risk of falls, and over time they quietly erode a person's independence and confidence.
There is good news in the research. Providing an external rhythm, whether heard, felt or seen, can help the brain break out of a freeze and re-establish a walking cadence. Clinicians call this external cueing, and the evidence behind it is well established. What most patients lack is an affordable, compact device that delivers these cues in something they already use every day: a walking stick.
How a beat breaks a freeze
This short animation shows one cueing cycle: steady walking, a freezing episode, the stick responding with rhythmic cues, and the walking rhythm returning.
Looping animated diagram. A person walks steadily. A freezing episode stops their feet. The walking stick responds with a rhythmic beat, a vibration in the handle and a laser line projected on the floor. The person steps over the line and their walking rhythm returns.
- Walking steadilyThe user walks at their own natural rhythm.
- A freeze beginsMid-stride, the feet stop responding. This is Freezing of Gait.
- The stick cuesA steady beat, a gentle vibration in the handle and a laser line on the floor give the brain a rhythm to follow and a target to step over.
- Rhythm returnsCueing helps movement restart, and the stride settles back into a steady rhythm.
A simplified illustration of one cueing cycle.
What the Smart Walking Stick does
Three cues, one familiar device
Research shows multimodal cueing works best. The stick delivers all three cue types together, in a form factor people already trust.
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Rhythmic beatA clear, metronome-like pulse from a built-in speaker, adjustable from 60 to 140 beats per minute.
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Haptic vibrationThe handle pulses gently in time with the beat, a cue you can feel even in noisy places.
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Laser floor lineA visible line projected on the ground gives the brain a target to step over.
Tested with real patients: demonstrating the prototype to the Parkinson's UK Southend support group, April 2026.
A companion app
An Android app controls every cue over Bluetooth, with voice commands, a live gait graph, session recording and a daily diary.
60-140
beats per minute, adjustable to match each user's natural walking pace
Sensing built in
A six-axis motion sensor streams real gait data from the stick, the foundation for future automatic freeze detection.
Continuing as research
The project is now an MRes at Swansea University: Prototype 2, structured clinical testing and machine learning are next.
The journey so far
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The beginning
A dissertation with a purpose
I chose the Smart Walking Stick as my final year BEng dissertation at Swansea University, inspired by watching my grandad live with Parkinson's.
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Prototype 1
From breadboard to custom PCB
A Raspberry Pi based prototype delivering all three cues, a custom printed circuit board, and a full companion app connected over Bluetooth.
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April 2026
Demonstrated to Parkinson's UK Southend
Real people with Parkinson's held the stick, felt the vibration, heard the beat, and told me they would genuinely want to use it.
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Since the demo
Encouragement to keep going
The demonstration led to contact with Parkinson's UK Tech Partnerships and PD Buddy, a Parkinson's assistive technology business.
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Now
MRes research at Swansea University
The work continues as a Master of Research, with structured development and testing.
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Next
Prototype 2, clinical trials and automatic detection
See the full roadmap for what is planned, including machine learning based freeze detection.
Follow the whole story
The Story
It started at home, watching my grandfather, and finding a gap that engineering could fill.
Read the storyHow It Works
The three cueing modalities, the companion app, and the hardware inside the stick.
See the technologyFuture Plans
Prototype 2, clinical trials, machine learning research, and the road to a real product.
See what is nextAbout Me
Mechanical Engineering graduate at Swansea University, now researching the stick full time.
Meet EuanHelp fund the next prototype
Your donation helps fund prototype development, testing, and IP protection for the Smart Walking Stick this summer. Every contribution goes directly toward building a working device and putting it in front of people with Parkinson's for real-world testing.
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Follow the project, or say hello
If you are a clinician, researcher, funder or part of a Parkinson's organisation, or you simply want to follow along, I would genuinely love to hear from you. There is no mailing list and no form: just send me an email.