How an AI-powered lamp could help detect epileptic seizures

Portuguese startup Lampsy Health has created a smart lamp capable of detecting epileptic seizures using artificial intelligence (AI).

The "Lampsy" lamp, as it is called, is able to detect epileptic seizures with over 99 per cent accuracy and 18 times fewer false alarms than other alternatives, the company said. In small tests, the device also communicate directly with local health authorities.

Epilepsy is a neurological disease that affects around 50 million people worldwide, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

A Lampsy Health executive said it can help improve quality of life for patients and their caregivers, especially at night.

According to Vicente Garção, the company's co-founder and chief executive, this device can help ease "the emotional burden" of epilepsy because it makes it possible to send alerts in real time, informing caregivers such as parents in moments of crisis.

"In this way, people can be helped and lives can be saved. ... The fact is that many children with epilepsy sleep with their parents into adulthood. This greatly jeopardises the family's quality of life," Garção told Euronews at the Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon.

Studies indicate that around 86 per cent of nocturnal epileptic seizures go unnoticed and can have serious consequences, including SUDEP (sudden unexpected death in epilepsy).

The Lampsy device was designed to respond to this problem through a non-intrusive, privacy-centred approach: although the lamp is designed to capture images, it is possible to switch this option off. Thus, no video data is stored or shared externally.

Lampsy Health has partnerships with Portuguese public hospitals in the Lisbon region that monitor epilepsy. But the device cannot yet be purchased by patients.

The start-up says the device should be commercially available in Europe in April 2026.

More than 5,000 families are on the waiting list to buy the Lampsy Health smart lamp, the company said.