Products: MacuCoach™ Voice Companion

MacuCoach™: Voice-First Dry AMD Companion

MacuCoach™ is a voice-first patient-support companion app for older adults living with age-related macular degeneration. Developed by Groupe Arex IA Inc. (a Montréal AI health technology startup), MacuCoach™ removes visual friction for seniors facing central retinal loss.

The 4 Daily Habit Pillars

1. Eye-Healthy Mediterranean Nutrition: Multimodal Gemini camera scanning of meals to assess dietary lutein and zeaxanthin for macular pigment optical density (MPOD).
2. Cardiovascular Physical Movement: Daily light movement coaching to promote choroidal vascular blood flow to the retina.
3. AREDS2 Supplement Adherence: Voice confirmation and routine tracking to maintain clinical AREDS2 vitamin compliance.
4. Vision & Amsler Grid Self-Checks: Spoken monocular distortion checks to alert patients and clinics early to choroidal neovascularization (wet AMD transition).

Technology & Platform Stack

MacuCoach™ is built using Google AI Studio, Gemini multimodal models, Google Cloud Speech-to-Text and Text-to-Speech, Cloud Run, Firestore, Cloud Storage, and Vercel. Voice interactions utilize Google Cloud Neural2 models (en-US-Neural2-F) operating at a senior-friendly 0.95x speed rate.

Clinical Validation & Pilot Study

Groupe Arex IA Inc. is preparing a 12-week clinical feasibility and usability pilot study in collaboration with the American Macular Degeneration Foundation (AMDF). The study will evaluate feasibility, usability, engagement, health-literacy support, and adherence to daily eye-healthy habits among older adults diagnosed with dry age-related macular degeneration.