Smart Tools for the Elderly

Continued from page 1

By John Harney

August 12, 2002

Felder's team has installed a prototype in the Charlottesville, VA home of Jim Humphries, a registered nurse and friend of Felder. Though only 43, Humphries volunteered to be the test subject in April 2001. Redundant detectors record Humphries's movements in different rooms: motion detectors monitor his lateral movements while infrared ones record his movement directly toward the sensor.

Sensors abound in the kitchen and bathroom, where they're attached to cabinets, drawers, appliances, and floors. "The kitchen has sensors that are triggered when I open the microwave or the refrigerator," Humphries explains. "There are pads [with sensors] in front of the stove andsink, so they can pretty much infer when I'm cooking a meal." Likewise, a sensor pad beside the washing machine tells the system when Humphries does his laundry.

While the sensors are the most obvious element of the In-House Monitoring System, they are useless without software to interpret their data. A computer in Humphries' study, explains Felder, "synthesizes the data from all the sensors and then sends it off through the Internet to the neural network-based central monitoring system." The central monitoring system-a host computer in Felder's University of Virginia lab-then refines the data and sends reports to a doctor or caregiver.

The Virtual Physical

Felder is working to improve both systems. He plans to add "drop-off detection" to the walker so it can see height changes in walking surfaces like stairs. He has tested sensors that measure how a subject walks. One day, such "gait monitors" might note that their user has developed a slight limp and report that information to the caregiver before the condition gets serious. Felder is also experimenting with a bed pad that measures a sleepers' blood pressure, quality of sleep and breathing. In the longer term, Felder foresees ways to track what goes into users, as well as what comes out. "Every time you'd use a package you'd scan it," he says, "and we'd make it so convenient that it would be like those readouts at the grocery store." In the bathroom, he imagines users could just put a device in the toilet to automate urinalysis.

While both devices can be used by anyone, they were developed especially for lower income seniors. Felder estimates that the Smart Walker and Smart In-Home Monitoring System will each cost between $300 and $400, and will be covered by health insurance.

But don't all these sensors come with a hidden cost-privacy? Humphries, the first man to live within the system, says no. He insists that the system, with no cameras or microphones, is "as minimally invasive as possible." And he is adamant that the benefits far outweigh the cost. "My father died of a heart attack," he explains. "He was home alone unmoving for two days before a friend found him. A system like this could have saved his life."