PIKAA

A calm companion for everyday life with Parkinson’s.

PIKAA listens at your own pace, answers with sources you can check, remembers only what you allow, and shares with your medical team only when you say yes.

See what it does Watch it in action

A research prototype from the Pacific Parkinson’s Research Centre at UBC.

  1. PIKAA listening: a band of warm light, and the question 'What helps when my feet freeze in doorways?' appearing as it is spoken, with the word Listening beneath.

    Listens at your pace

    Speak naturally, pause when you need to. PIKAA waits.

  2. PIKAA's answer about freezing in doorways, suggesting a steady cue like counting as you step, with a citation that opens the patient handout it came from.

    Answers you can check

    Plain words, with the source one tap away.

  3. A card asking to send this week's summary to your medical team, showing exactly what would be sent, with Allow once and Not now.

    Shares only with your yes

    You see exactly what would go to your medical team, first.

What does PIKAA stand for?

Parkinson’s Intelligence Knowledge Agent for Actions.

A companion that understands Parkinson’s, knows where its answers come from, and turns a conversation into help that actually happens.

  1. Parkinson’s

    Built around the realities of living with Parkinson’s, with the clinicians who care for it.

  2. Intelligence

    Capable AI that works privately for you, not in someone else’s cloud.

  3. Knowledge

    Answers grounded in the clinic’s education library and in what you chose to tell it.

  4. Agent

    One calm voice that brings everything together, so there are no apps to juggle.

  5. for Actions

    Check-ins, reminders and summaries that actually happen, always with your yes.

Why does it matter?

Care happens between visits.

Parkinson’s brings far more than tremor and stiffness. It can touch sleep, mood, energy, balance, memory and much more, and it changes from day to day, mostly far from the clinic. Yet care still rests on visits months apart, and on what a person can remember in a short appointment.

PIKAA starts somewhere else: a conversation at home, at the person’s own pace, that quietly becomes useful to the people who care for them.

10M+
people live with Parkinson’s worldwide.
2×
projected growth in that number by 2040.

Who is it for?

People living with Parkinson’s, and everyone who cares for them.

  • For people living with Parkinson’s

    A companion to talk with at any time of day. Ask questions, keep track of how you are doing, and get gentle reminders, all at your own pace.

  • For family and caregivers

    Less guessing between visits. PIKAA is designed to keep the people who help informed, whenever the person chooses to share.

  • For medical teams

    A clearer picture between appointments: check-ins you recommend, and summaries that patients review and approve before they are shared.

PIKAA in its light theme at its largest text size: a fine band of warm light across the screen, the question 'Can you remind me what helps with dizziness when I stand up?' in a large warm caption, and the word Listening beneath.

Easy to use, even on a hard day.

  • Talk or tap, whichever is easier today.
  • A soft voice is still heard, and PIKAA never rushes you.
  • Large text and big buttons, for tired eyes and unsteady hands.
  • Short check-ins you can pause and pick up later.
  • Nothing is graded, and a hard week is never shown in red.

Shown: PIKAA’s light theme at its largest text size.

What can it do?

One conversation. Everything else follows from it.

Questions, check-ins, reminders and summaries all happen in the same calm conversation, spoken or typed.

PIKAA listening: warm threads of light and the person's question in a warm caption, 'Is fatigue common in Parkinson's disease and what can make it worse?'

PIKAA listens by default and answers aloud, with captions that follow its voice. Typing is always there when you would rather not speak.

In the app today

Screens show fictional people and data. Those marked "In development" show our approved designs for features still being finished.

Is it only for certain symptoms?

No. PIKAA grows with each person’s care.

Parkinson’s is different for everyone, so PIKAA is not built around a fixed list. Support for new symptoms and everyday needs is added over time, and each person’s PIKAA can focus on what matters to them.

  • Sleep
  • Mood
  • Energy and fatigue
  • Dizziness on standing
  • Walking and balance
  • Medicines
  • Speech and voice
  • Memory and thinking
  • Daily activities
  • Exercise
  • Questions about Parkinson’s
  • and more, as each is reviewed

  • Still one conversation

    New areas arrive in the same calm conversation, so there is never anything new to learn.

  • Shaped with the medical team

    Clinicians can recommend check-ins for each person, and the person always decides.

  • Reviewed before it reaches anyone

    Every new area is checked by clinicians before it is switched on.

Can I see it working?

A morning with PIKAA.

From a first hello to a short check-in, and a summary shared only after a yes.

  1. 1

    Talk it through

    May mentions a rough night. PIKAA listens, answers gently, and offers a short check-in.

  2. 2

    A short check-in

    A couple of simple questions, answered by voice or touch, then a calm look at her week.

  3. 3

    Shared only with a yes

    May sees exactly what would go to her medical team, and nothing is sent until she agrees.

An animation built from PIKAA’s own interface, with a fictional person and data.

What does my medical team see?

Only what you choose to share.

PIKAA works hand in hand with Care Composer, a companion app for clinicians. Your medical team can recommend check-ins, and you decide what comes back to them.

PIKAA answering "Is there anything I should do today?": your medical team recommended a short check-in about daily activities that takes about five minutes, with the choices Now, Later or Choose a time.

PIKAA

For you, at home

Offers what your medical team recommends, at a time that suits you, and keeps every choice about what is shared with you.

Care Composer showing a care plan with each step confirmed with a time: signed, sent, received, waiting for patient, accepted and report delivered.

Care Composer

For your medical team

Plan care, recommend check-ins and receive the summaries patients approve. It never speaks or decides for the patient.

  1. Medical team

    Recommends a check-in.

  2. You

    Choose when, and answer at home.

  3. You

    Review what would be shared.

  4. Medical team

    Receives it only after your yes.

Can I trust it?

Everything stays on your computer, unless you choose to share it.

It is the first thing PIKAA tells anyone who starts using it, and the promise everything else is built on.

  • Yours, not the cloud’s

    Conversations, memory and the AI itself stay with you. There is no tracking.

  • See it before it is sent

    Nothing is shared without your yes, and you always see exactly what will go, and to whom.

  • Looking is not keeping

    The camera opens only when you agree, and nothing is kept unless you choose.

  • Yours to take, or erase

    Take a readable copy of everything, or delete it.

  • It knows your voice

    PIKAA learns your voice, so it responds to you and not to the television.

  • Calm, careful words

    Practical and never diagnostic. PIKAA never names a condition you have not mentioned yourself.

Help that always ends with a person.

If something seems wrong, PIKAA’s help steps up gently, from a quiet note to involving the people you trust. The steps that reach beyond you are switched on only after clinical sign-off.

  1. A quiet note
  2. A gentle word with you
  3. Your caregiverAfter clinical sign-off
  4. Emergency helpAfter clinical sign-off

What powers it?

FERRET, our private AI platform.

We built FERRET so that AI which helps people with their health can stay with them, not in someone else’s cloud. It brings listening, speaking, reading, seeing and knowing together in one place, with memory and consent at its heart.

  • Private by design

    The AI works right where the person is, and personal information leaves only with their consent.

  • Hears, speaks, reads and sees

    Natural conversation, reading aloud and looking at things when asked, all working together.

  • Remembers with permission

    A private memory that keeps only what the person allows, and forgets when asked.

  • Built to grow

    New capabilities are designed, tested and reviewed in FERRET Studio before they reach anyone.

FERRET Studio's visual editor showing a weekly care summary: this week's check-ins feed three parallel steps that look at sleep, mood and dizziness on standing, then a step that writes the summary in plain words, a step that checks it against the check-ins, and a final step that asks before sharing with the medical team.
FERRET Studio, showing a weekly care summary built step by step: look at the week, write it in plain words, check it against what the person said, then ask before sharing.

FERRET is developed by our team and is not publicly available.

Where is it today?

From a clinic tool to a companion at home.

  1. January 2024

    Project established

    Launched at UBC’s Pacific Parkinson’s Research Centre, bringing together clinical neurology and AI engineering.

  2. 2024 to 2025

    Platform and clinical design

    Our private AI platform, FERRET, takes shape, and the clinical design and ethics protocols are prepared.

  3. 2025 onward

    A first tool in the clinic

    Our pre-assessment chatbot is used with patients at Vancouver Coastal Health’s Movement Disorders Clinic, one of Canada’s leading Parkinson’s centres.

    In clinical use
  4. 2026

    PIKAA, the companion at home

    The voice-first companion is built and being tested by our research team, while clinicians review its content and wording.

    Now
  5. 2026

    Usability study

    A study with up to 50 people living with Parkinson’s, together with their caregivers and clinicians.

    In preparation
  6. 2026 to 2029

    Multi-site study

    A proposed 36-month study across Canadian sites through the Canadian Open Parkinson Network.

    Grant submitted
  7. 2027 onward

    Across Canada and beyond

    Wider use across British Columbia, Canada and internationally, with Mandarin and Cantonese support planned.

    Planned

PIKAA is a research prototype. It is not yet available to patients or the public, and it is not a medical device.

Who is building it?

Neurology meets AI engineering.

Clinical neurology, machine learning research and engineering, working together at the University of British Columbia.

Martin J. McKeown

Martin J. McKeown

Principal Investigator

UBC Medicine (Neurology)

Professor and Head, Division of Neurology. John L. Nichol Chair in Parkinson’s Research. Honorary Visiting Professor, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Singapore. Associate Member, Electrical and Computer Engineering. Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Parkinson Canada.

Z. Jane Wang

Z. Jane Wang

Co-Investigator

UBC Electrical and Computer Engineering

Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering. IEEE Fellow. Expert in signal processing, machine learning and biomedical data analysis.

Michael Ng

Michael Ng

PhD Student and Senior Machine Learning Engineer

UBC Electrical and Computer Engineering, and UBC Medicine (Neurology)

Inventor, 9 US patents in privacy-preserving computer vision. 1st place, OpenCV AI Competition 2021. Author, ICLR 2026.

Final wording of PIKAA’s conversations and clinical content rests with the clinical team at the Pacific Parkinson’s Research Centre.

  • 1st place, OpenCV AI Competition 2021

    An on-device AI platform recognised by OpenCV and Intel for privacy-preserving edge architecture.

  • US patents

    An AI technology portfolio behind PIKAA’s private, on-device approach.

  • ICLR 2026: Once-More

    Perplexity-guided self-correction for large language models, peer reviewed at a top AI venue.

  • AI governance publications

    Ethical AI governance in Parkinson’s digital health, in AJOB Empirical Bioethics (2023) and AI and Society (2024).

  • Clinical use at Vancouver Coastal Health

    Our earlier chatbot is used by people with Parkinson’s at the VCH Movement Disorders Clinic.

  • Parkinson’s Foundation Centre of Excellence

    The Pacific Parkinson’s Research Centre holds this designation for world-class Parkinson’s research and care.

With our partners

Care that listens between visits.

Patient-paced, private by default, and built with the people who care for Parkinson’s every day.

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