For two weeks recently I got into a steady routine. At 10:30 each morning, I would sit at my kitchen table, strap three devices containing sensors to my right arm, and switch on a tablet computer. Then I would spend 20 minutes going through a series of exercises monitored by a man who popped up in a window on the screen. The results of my endeavours will, I hope, help millions of people like me dealing with Parkinson's disease. My daily routine was part of a medical trial run by engineers from Imperial College and a start-up company they have founded, in collaboration with a consultant neurologist at London's Charing Cross Hospital.