California teens build AI fall-risk system, win $100,000 scholarship

Two California teenagers, Ruoqi Li, 16, and Jason Yang, 17, have developed an artificial intelligence-powered system designed to identify fall risks in older adults before a fall occurs. According to Davidson Institute, the project, called SafeStrides, combines a smartphone application with wearable sensors to analyse walking patterns and provide an assessment of a person's fall risk.Li, a junior at The Harker School in San Jose, and Yang, a senior at Head-Royce School, developed the project as a way to make fall-risk assessment more accessible outside medical facilities. Their work has now earned them recognition as 2026 Davidson Fellows and a shared $100,000 scholarship in the engineering category.The teenagers said their interest in the problem was influenced by seeing family members suffer serious injuries after falls. As they researched the issue, they found that falls are a major cause of injury and injury-related death among older adults.