TED Talk Analysis: 'A simple invention, designed to keep my grandfather safe' by Kenneth Shinozuka

My TED Talk Analysis covers Kenneth Shinozuka’s speech about his grandfather with dementia, which he gave November 2014 at TEDYouth 2014, an official TED conference. A common problem amongst people with dementia and their caretakers is that many people with dementia wander off, and teen inventor Kenneth Shinozuka came up with a novel solution to help his night-wandering grandfather.                                                        

Kenneth Shinozuka

Shinokzuka's Statistic About Dementia-Wandering

Kenneth begins his speech with logos and explains why his invention is so important to society. He portrays a statistic proving that 65% of people with dementia wander, and then he uses pathos by providing the audience a personal story about his grandfather with dementia.

One day, while taking care of his grandfather, he missed his grandpa walking out of bed, and he couldn’t find his grandfather for he called “the most terrifying five minutes of his life.” He finally found him, but was not satisfied. Kenneth set out to invent something that would not only ensure his grandfather’s safety, but also to ease his aunt’s anxiety of taking care of him. He invented a dementia-specialized pressure sensor sock to be put on the foot of the person with dementia while he or she sleeps. Then, Kenneth explains his ethos – that he has been very interested in science technology since he was six years old when a family friend fell and was injured in a bathroom.

Kenneth's accomplishments in the field of science as a kid.

Kenneth illustrates his whole plan and process of invention to his audience, including his original timeline. He taught himself the science behind the pressure sensor through YouTube tutorials and various textbooks, and taught himself the coding the decoding in order to connect the pressure sensor to his smart phone. He had been trying out the pressure sensor on his grandpa for a year when he gave the talk and guarantees a 100% success rate.  

Kenneth assumes his audience knows nothing about science or dementia, so he speaks in very lay terms. He provides his listeners with a visual demonstration of his pressure sensor invention by bringing out a sock model on stage, and he talks with a very relaxed and easy voice. Kenneth had to provide everything for his audience, since dementia isn’t exactly a common knowledge topic amongst normal people. When the sock model stepped onto the floor with the pressure senor on, the app on Kenneth’s smart phone beeped and alerted him of the situation. The demonstration worked, and the audience rewarded Kenneth with an ovation. Kenneth’s speech is very well organized, and he is consistently referring to a very informative power-point.

Kenneth uses visual aid as part of his speech.

The only constructive criticism I had watching was that he doesn’t speak with the passion or interest that I would expect someone who developed such an invention to have. One can sense a nervous and uncomfortable energy watching him, and it takes away from the overall performance and demonstration of technological brilliance.