Bondgy Inc., the Spokane-based maker of pet owner-pet communication device iCPooch, plans next month to roll out a new product, called iCLovedOnes, for human interaction. 

Brooke Martin, a Ferris High School sophomore who invented both devices and whose family owns Bondgy, says the new device is designed to connect loved ones—and remotely distribute necessary medications to elderly family members who might forget otherwise—and is scheduled to start shipping at the beginning of June. 

Chris Martin, the father of the 15-year-old inventor and CEO of Bondgy, says pre-orders are being taken at iCLovedOnes.com for the device, which retails for $149.99. Martin is the former director of First Night Spokane, the local New Year’s Eve arts and entertainment festival, which he also co-founded. 

He says his daughter got the idea for iCLovedOnes not long after her grandmother died.

“We wish we’d had it then,” Chris Martin says. His mother-in-law, Barbara Swett, died in December of 2013. Becky Martin, Chris’ wife, visited her mother daily. However, Swett had other adult children who didn’t live near Spokane and had limited access to her.

Martin says iCLovedOnes has been designed to make it easier for older people, many of whom aren’t tech savvy and capable of manipulating devices used for video conversation. In Swett’s case, Martin says, she was unable to even pick up the phone near the end of her life. “It (iCLovedOnes) operates on auto answer,” Martin says.

With the exception of certain materials that are made in China, Martin says manufacturing of iCLovedOnes and iCPooch are handled in the Spokane area. Reiss Injection Molding manufactures the plastic parts for the device, Limelyte Technology Group Inc. is the software developer, and Servatron Inc. is responsible for the circuitry. 

“The key thing is to develop a low-cost solution for people socially isolated,” Chris Martin says. 

iCLovedOnes was on display this week at an American Telemedicine Association gathering in Los Angeles. The organization says it strives to improve the quality of life for aging populations.

“The reception at the American Telemedicine show has been fantastic,” Martin says. “Those in the telemedicine industry love the nurturing ‘bedside manor’ of the device because of the two-way video interaction in addition to pill delivery,” he says.

Roughly 10,000 people per day are turning 65 years of age, Martin says, citing the 2014 United States of Aging Survey.

The survey says more than 15 million adults have difficulties with “one or more instrumental activities” of daily living, including doing housework, using the phone and preparing meals. The survey went on to say that the population aged 65 and over is projected to be 83.7 million in 2050, nearly double the 43.1 million people of that age in 2012.

Pre-orders are only being taken now at www.iCLovedOnes.com, Martin says. Users can download the free app onto their phones or tablets from Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play Store.

Brooke Martin earlier was awarded the top prize in an “Inventions We Love” contest at Geekwire Tech Summit in Seattle in October. Last month, Martin appeared on the popular reality TV show “Shark Tank,” in which she successfully made her sales pitch to the so-called sharks, who included billionaire and the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and venture capitalist Kevin O’Leary.