The sensors know when elderly users wake up to go to the bathroom. They know how much time he spends in bed. They watch him do jigsaw puzzles in the den. They tattle when he opens the refrigerator. Sensor networks, which made their debut in hospitals and assisted living centers, have been creeping into the homes of some older Americans in recent years. The systems -- which can monitor a host of things, from motion in particular rooms to whether a person has taken his or her medicine -- collect information about a person's daily habits and condition, and then relay that in real-time to doctors or family members. If the elderly opens an exterior door at night, for example, an alert goes out to the doctor, a monitoring company and two of his closest friends, since there is no family nearby.
The monitoring network, made by a company called GrandCare Systems, features motion-sensors in every room as well as sensors on every exterior door. A sensor beneath the mattress pad on his bed tells health care professionals if he's sleeping regularly. All of this connects wirelessly with vital sign monitors, which send his doctor daily reports about his blood-sugar levels, blood pressure and weight. He can see charts about how he's doing on a touch-screen monitor that sits on a desk in his home office. University researchers are testing robots that help take care of older people, keep them company -- and even give them sponge baths. Meanwhile, some younger people have taken to collecting information on their own, often going to extremes to document exercise routines, caffeine intake and the like and posting the data online.
More information:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/11/19/sensors.aging/
More information:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/11/19/sensors.aging/