Compath

2025

Compath is a wearable guidance system for people with dementia that supports orientation, safety, and everyday independence.

Safe Mobility Together!

Compath is a supportive system designed to help people with dementia stay independent in everyday life. It consists of a wearable companion that supports the user while on the move and a docking station that serves as a familiar home base for charging, reminders, and storing essential items.

In the background, family members and caregivers are connected to the system, providing support when needed without interfering with everyday routines. Compath connects the user, their home, and their support network in one simple and unobtrusive system.

You’ll never walk alone!

“There is always a path to follow,
a connection to hold on to,
and a quiet presence to guide you home.”

The Safe Zone

Compath is built around a Safe Zone, collaboratively defined by the wearer and caregivers based on familiar routines and places. It creates a balance between independence and reassurance. Leaving the zone triggers an alert, while reminders support medication and hydration.

If you ever get lost, the Home button guides you back home or to a designated location.

A Personal Companion

Compath aims to strengthen the identity of people with dementia by offering different ways of wearing and personalising the device. This makes it feel less like a medical aid and more like a personal companion.

The device can be worn openly as an amulet, like a watch on the wrist, or discreetly in a pocket. Its adaptable design allows it to be personalised to individual preferences and needs, supporting a sense of personal identity.

“I wanted to destigmatise dementia by bringing the topic into public space with Compath, creating a more open and confident way of engaging with it.”

Who you are!

Compath supports independence without defining a person by dementia. It keeps the focus on who you are, your identity, and the life you continue to live.

^{Staying active and connected to everyday life can support physical function, cognitive well being, and independence for people living with dementia.}

^{Based on Reparaz-Escudero et al., 2024.}

The Lighthouse

The docking station provides a dedicated place for Compath when it is not being worn or carried. It keeps the device charged and ready for use while providing a fixed point where essential personal items, such as keys or medication, can be stored. By giving Compath a defined place within the home, the dock also supports everyday routines and makes the system easy to locate.

User Interface

Compath has no touch interface, complex menus or substructures. The interface is simple and clearly structured, making essential information easy to recognise and understand. The system remains largely passive, presenting information only when needed through simple visual and audio signals. These provide clear guidance for navigation, reminders and contacting caregivers.



︎ Through external access, caregivers can configure and personalise settings together with the wearer, including the Safe Zone, familiar routes and routines, as well as reminders.

Design for what matters

Dementia is often hidden from public life and associated primarily with care and dependency. Compath aims to create greater visibility for the topic while supporting self determination, independence, and participation in everyday life.

Design for Democracy

Compath was part of Design for Democracy – What Design Can Achieve!, presented as part of WDC 2026 at the Museum Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt, curated by Anna Scheuermann and Prof. Matthias Wagner K.

Nerver Still

Compath was developed as part of the RIMOWA Design Prize 2025 and selected as one of seven finalist projects.