Rongrong Zhuge

Wander Friends

A companion walking service designed for people living with dementia

Service Design

UI/UX Design

2025

Solo Project

Dementia is a term for several diseases that affect memory, thinking, and the ability to perform daily activities. In 2021, 57 million people had dementia worldwide (WHO, 2025).

Spatial disorientation is often noted during the progression of dementia. It can turn everyday movement into a source of fear and dependence for those living with dementia. For their caregivers, it brings constant worry and vigilance as they try to balance safety with freedom.

Wander Friends reimagines dementia care through everyday companionship.

Challenge

How might we help people with dementia move more freely and safely in their everyday lives?

Solution

A service that engages the community efforts to support the free travel and safe navigation of people with dementia.

Solution

A service that engages the community efforts to support the free travel and safe navigation of people with dementia.

The story began when I noticed that my grandma, Mrs. Shu, was experiencing a gradual shrinking of her living space in daily life.

Once an active woman who practiced tai chi in a park several kilometers away, she now moves only within a single block from home.

The reason behind this change is dementia, a condition that causes memory loss and weakens spatial orientation.

As a result, she often gets lost when stepping outside. Yet her desire to walk remains strong. Each time she’s out for more than half an hour, my father must go search for her, worried about her safety.

Her shrinking freedom and our constant vigilance made me wonder: How can people with dementia live safely without losing autonomy?

Problem Framing

Research & Insights

Interview

Yun
Age: 27
Job: Student
Yun once lived with his grandma, who was diagnosed with dementia 5 years ago. As her condition worsened, she moved to a nursing home.
"I feel like the elderly don't realize they're lost when that happens. They just keep walking toward where they think they’re going."
⭐ People with dementia often get disoriented in unfamiliar environments, like moving to a new place.

⭐ In apartment complexes, security guards often help prevent elderly residents from getting lost.
Zheng
Age: 55
Job: Shop Owner
Zheng has been living with his mother since 2018. She was diagnosed with dementia three years ago, and Zheng is now her main caregiver.
“I’m thankful we live in a small town where most neighbors know about my mom’s condition. They’re a big help whenever she gets lost.”
⭐ Sending a family member with dementia to a nursing home is often a last resort, as families worry they might feel lonely or anxious in an unfamiliar environment.

⭐ Many families rely on GPS tracking devices, but they often face challenges such as the person’s reluctance to wear them or the device being easily lost.
Tang
Age: 32
Job: Nurse
Tang has 1-year working experience in a nursing home. She now works in the cardiology department of a private hospital in Tokyo, where most patients have dementia.
"We still call the patients who used to be teachers "sensei" (teacher), because that's where their dignity comes from."
⭐ Memory loss is neither linear nor absolute — body memory remains, and early memories resurface.

⭐ Nursing home emphasizes the respect for each patient by maintaining their professional identity and maximize autonomy.

⭐ The sense of community is also what nursing home trying to build.

Analysis of Exisiting Practices

Tracking Technologies for the Elderly on the Market

Limitations

The elderly are merely objects to be monitored and tracked
No timely navigational support provided to the elderly users
Lack of timely communication between caregivers and users

Pain Points

How to make the device dementia-friendly considering their declining cognitive ability?

Acceptable
Easy to wear
Not easy to lose

Limitations

Most missing-person cases rely on police intervention after the incident, which is delayed and inefficient.
There is no centralized public authority to monitor or coordinate responses to missing elderly cases.

Pain Points

How to prevent wandering before it happens, rather than only reacting afterward?
How to build an integrated support network that connects families, communities, and authorities for faster response.

Community-based Support Systems

💡

Tracking devices are widely adopted by families, yet their effectiveness remains limited due to usability issues and reluctance from people with dementia to wear them.

Home and institutional care remain the primary models for dementia care, but the community support network is still weak.

Community networks have the potential to assist in locating missing elderly individuals, but they need to be better organized and mobilized to provide timely and coordinated support.

Initial Ideas from Insights

Tech-solution

Advanced Tracker

Smart watch

Guide Robot Pet

Community-solution

Memory Stand -

A physical space

Shift of Vision

Passive tracking & searching

→

Active guiding & navigating

Wander Friends

A community-driven service that enables people with dementia to go out safely with the company of local residents. It is an on-demand service that matches people with dementia with nearby residents for safe outdoor activities.

Prototype

User Feedback

Yu
Age: 25
Job: English teacher
Leo just graduated from university and now works as a English teacher. He likes taking a walk everyday and has plenty of available time doing so.
"To me, this service treats individuals with dementia as people with needs and agency, rather than passive patients. This makes me feel more engaged and natural when accompanying them, as it also becomes a new experience for me."

“If I were to become a Wander Friend to earn money, I might worry about how the platform prices different types of services. For example, would the service fee vary based on the severity of an elderly person's condition? This could affect my choices and influence my ethical perception of this job.”
Bea
Age: 33
Job: Ph.D Student
Bea used to be the caregiver of her grandma, who is living with dementia in the Phillipines.
“This project might work in Japan but might not in the Philippines, because people will just know through the app that no one’s at home at that point and go to rob the house…”

"I am also thinking about accountability, if I walk with Yamamoto-san and he trips, who should take the responsibility?”
Kawasaki
Age: 40
Job: manager at a nursing home
Kawasaki works at a nursing home company and has years of experience in dementia-care.
"Why is this service paid?

"It has good points both as a paid system and volunteer system. Since it is based on everyone's empathy with each other, a paid system might weaken this dimention. But I also understand that a paid system is probably more sustainable. The problem is how to strike a balance between the two."

Special thanks to Prof. Miles Pennington and Ph.D. Hyunjung Kim for their support, advice, and guidance!