“Engineering school taught me how to solve problems. Parkinson’s patients guided me on how to actually spot real problems.” For Amey Desai, that difference has shaped his life’s work.

An electrical and electronics engineer, he completed his bachelor’s in engineering from BITS Pilani, Goa, in 2018. The story that began as a fascination with electronics, neuroscience, and human movement eventually led him towards one of the everyday challenges faced by people living with Parkinson’s disease: the struggle to walk.

Today, Amey is the founder of Lifespark Technologies, where he and his team are trying to make everyday movement easier for people living with neurological conditions. 

One of their solutions is ‘WALK’, a wearable device that helps people with Parkinson’s when their feet suddenly seem to “freeze” and taking the next step becomes difficult. The team is also developing PATHFINDER, a digital platform that tracks how a person is moving, identifies their risk of falling, and helps doctors support their rehabilitation at home. 

But the idea behind WALK did not begin with a device.

It began with a question about how the human body moves.

His first clue came from brainwaves

The 30-year-old’s interest in the nervous system goes back to his engineering years. While studying at BITS Pilani, he interned with Dr Veeky Baths, whose laboratory had recently acquired the first electroencephalogram system on campus.

“For me, the idea of deciphering brainwaves was fascinating,” he recalls.

That curiosity drew him into research on muscle signals, motor control and rehabilitation technologies. As he studied mobility disorders, he began to understand how conditions such as Parkinson’s can shape something as ordinary, and essential, as moving through the day.

Then the subject became personal. Towards the end of college, Amey’s grandfather suffered a fall and hip fracture. Later, his maternal grandfather was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.

What had existed in research papers was now unfolding within his own family. Watching someone close to him struggle with movement changed the way Amey understood the problem.

“As I interacted with patients, clinicians, physiotherapists and researchers, I realised that mobility is not restricted to only movement,” he says. “It is independence, dignity, confidence and participation in society.”

That understanding would eventually become central to Lifespark Technologies.

When the next step won’t come

At first, Amey thought the problem he was trying to solve was relatively straightforward. People were struggling to walk, so perhaps they needed better assistive devices or rehabilitation tools.

Then he began understanding freezing of gait.

For some people with Parkinson’s, the legs are physically capable of moving, but the person can suddenly find themselves unable to initiate a step. It can happen while starting to walk, turning, or navigating a familiar space.

“The problem was not only muscle strength or mechanical movement. It was a breakdown in the communication between neurological intention and physical action,” he explains.

His work at the........

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