When my late father moved into the nursing home they stuck him in the basement which had long hallways and at the time was mostly vacant. He had a walker and it didn't dawn on us it would ever be a problem.
But then he had a fall and couldn't get up. Anywhere else in the facility a staff member would have found him within five minutes. After a half hour and multiple failed attempts to stand he remembered his cell phone and called a Lodge member who took another twenty minutes to get there and help him up.
He didn't call me because he didn't want me to know he fell. But his Lodge buddy ratted him out to me and I was able to get him on a list for the first available room upstairs. A device like this could have alerted someone at the facility that he had fallen, this is a very big deal and it's going to save lives.
It's sad but most facilities are like this. If you want your elderly parents to have assistance, either move them in with you or hire private help and verify that they are doing what you want. Nursing homes and care facilities mainly exist to drain the assets of the elderly and then get them on medicaid until they die.
You can easily do Fall Detection with a modern cell phone - I wrote such an app in 2009, it presented a 3D interface to the user to show them it was working, you could attach it to your belt and safely walk around anywhere, and if it detected a fall it would send SMS alerts, make a sound, etc. I had users that swore by this app, it actually protected mutliple end-users (elderly, sufferers of MS, etc.) and was very well received by the users who trusted it.
The 6dof Gyroscope/Accelerometer sensors in most phones are perfectly adequate for the task.
It worked very well until it was removed from the Play Store a few years ago, but you can still find the APK floating around (https://apkfun.com/down_Fall-Detector.html) - although there are a lot more competing apps like this, it was actually one of the first to do reliable fall detection and reporting on Android ...
Main thing about Fall Detectors: TEST them. Really, really test them. You'd be surprised how well some algorithms work and how poorly they can perform if you do a 'slow fall', etc.
So I love Seeedstudio and their innovative and affordable hardware.
I bought quite a lot over the past years and always been quite happy for the quality.
However, they blame the chip shortage for their own inability to manage their inventory.
I've had to cancel my last order (all items in stock and paid for at the time). I contacted them after a few weeks seeing the items were not yet shipped. They replied that some items were out of stock. I agreed to remove them. A couple of days later, they reply again that more items (similar sensor as the one featured here) are no longer in stock....
This tells me that that their website isn't showing the actual stock status at the time of order, that their system doesn't reserve quantities for items already purchased, and that they don't really communicate unless you chase them (but they respond quickly).
If you purchase anything, have a follow-up ticket within 3 days to make sure they take care of your order and quickly assert whether all parts are available.
I like Seedstudio but they need to sort out their logistics and inventory management. My previous order took 4 months to ship and had multiple shortages and delays as well.
You had me worried, but not yet it can't. From the article:
> built-in health monitoring using radar technology
It is a Wifi bulb with radar.
The journal article implies it is possible, but they didn't demonstrate any applications, just some characteristics of the ESP platform that may enable it.
Anyone remember how viral "I've fallen and I can't get up" went? This was apparently the main use case and selling point for those devices back then, and it still is now.
It's sad to see how all of this tech is just doing one thing: enabling badly run "care homes" to reduce staffing count even further, and generally covering up the fact that we as a society are failing our elders.
The breath rate application really got my mind turning here— replacing 2 wearables (breath monitor, fall monitor) with a wireless device, and pulse sensing can already be done by video. Imagine walking into a hospital room or grandma’s home & having full bio monitoring with no tubes or cables…
In 2014, the ResMed office in Ireland was doing this “off label” with their S+ sleep monitor. They were very close, and the goal/target market was for seniors in long term care facilities.
Does this product/service currently exist as bundle, an easily connected assortment of services, or something that needs to be created? If so, I love to know how I can help make this a reality!
I think you'd be surprised how lax IPC-A-610 can be. That probably just sneaks in as acceptable for class 1/2 (side overhang <=50%). Even class 3 acceptance criteria allows for 25% overhang.
They probably gave the marketing department a QC reject to take pictures with, since marketing can't be bothered to worry about things like proper ESD protection =)
This ought to make for inexpensive home automation sensors that do much better occupancy detection for rooms than pIR sensors, which stall out if you're sitting and don't move enough to trigger "motion" but still want lights on in the room.
I like fall detection topic. It has purpose helping elders, albeit it will probably not be another hockey stick growth venture. I invested some time and conducted interviews with potential customers. For the sensor comes time of flight camera https://www.seeedstudio.com/DepthEye-S2-VGA-Resolution-ToF-C... in mind. It can be used for other applications in care too. Care homes have €€€ and would like to start test projects immediately.
Maybe somebody wants team up on this? My e-Mail is in my profile.
Woah, I didn't notice til reading a comment further down that this thing is mounted on the ceiling, so it notices remotely that a person has fallen. I thought that the person had to wear it, which is a nuisance. Ok, I want to set one of these up for an elderly family member. Way cool, wow.
> With the enhanced Infineon Doppler radar and the standard algorithm, the module is an ideal solution for individual applications like elderly health care, smart home, and danger alarm.
Anybody know what they mean by "the standard algorithm" for fall detection?
I would buy the "Human Static Presence Module" in a second if there was a tutorial on how to set it up (code wise). The YT video linked on the page made me way more curious then I thought I'd be.
rmason|4 years ago
But then he had a fall and couldn't get up. Anywhere else in the facility a staff member would have found him within five minutes. After a half hour and multiple failed attempts to stand he remembered his cell phone and called a Lodge member who took another twenty minutes to get there and help him up.
He didn't call me because he didn't want me to know he fell. But his Lodge buddy ratted him out to me and I was able to get him on a list for the first available room upstairs. A device like this could have alerted someone at the facility that he had fallen, this is a very big deal and it's going to save lives.
throwawayboise|4 years ago
boffinAudio|4 years ago
The 6dof Gyroscope/Accelerometer sensors in most phones are perfectly adequate for the task.
It worked very well until it was removed from the Play Store a few years ago, but you can still find the APK floating around (https://apkfun.com/down_Fall-Detector.html) - although there are a lot more competing apps like this, it was actually one of the first to do reliable fall detection and reporting on Android ...
Main thing about Fall Detectors: TEST them. Really, really test them. You'd be surprised how well some algorithms work and how poorly they can perform if you do a 'slow fall', etc.
bsder|4 years ago
Nope. It will never get deployed.
The problem is that when it fails, who is liable?
I've said it over and over, but the revolution in biomedical will happen when someone solves the problem of indemnity and not before.
Renaud|4 years ago
However, they blame the chip shortage for their own inability to manage their inventory.
I've had to cancel my last order (all items in stock and paid for at the time). I contacted them after a few weeks seeing the items were not yet shipped. They replied that some items were out of stock. I agreed to remove them. A couple of days later, they reply again that more items (similar sensor as the one featured here) are no longer in stock....
This tells me that that their website isn't showing the actual stock status at the time of order, that their system doesn't reserve quantities for items already purchased, and that they don't really communicate unless you chase them (but they respond quickly).
If you purchase anything, have a follow-up ticket within 3 days to make sure they take care of your order and quickly assert whether all parts are available.
I like Seedstudio but they need to sort out their logistics and inventory management. My previous order took 4 months to ship and had multiple shortages and delays as well.
transpute|4 years ago
DFWS (Device-Free Wireless Sensing) is possible with low-cost ESP32 devices and custom firmware, https://academic.oup.com/jcde/article/7/5/644/5837600
802.11bf WiFi Sensing is scheduled to be part of WiFi 7 in 2024, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29901587
teruakohatu|4 years ago
You had me worried, but not yet it can't. From the article:
> built-in health monitoring using radar technology
It is a Wifi bulb with radar.
The journal article implies it is possible, but they didn't demonstrate any applications, just some characteristics of the ESP platform that may enable it.
bloodyplonker22|4 years ago
adolph|4 years ago
https://theverge.com/2022/1/1/22862543/apple-watch-911-ad-fe...
mschuster91|4 years ago
It's sad to see how all of this tech is just doing one thing: enabling badly run "care homes" to reduce staffing count even further, and generally covering up the fact that we as a society are failing our elders.
GameOfKnowing|4 years ago
coredog64|4 years ago
donclark|4 years ago
thepasswordis|4 years ago
robocat|4 years ago
jacteh|4 years ago
crystalmeph|4 years ago
GameOfKnowing|4 years ago
elcomet|4 years ago
MPSimmons|4 years ago
This is ridiculously naïve. Gait recognition is a thing. Who knows what other kind of analysis can be done using point cloud and velocity vectors.
lnsru|4 years ago
keville|4 years ago
quickthrowman|4 years ago
lnsru|4 years ago
thebigman433|4 years ago
throwaway81523|4 years ago
oofbey|4 years ago
Anybody know what they mean by "the standard algorithm" for fall detection?
mdrzn|4 years ago
I would buy the "Human Static Presence Module" in a second if there was a tutorial on how to set it up (code wise). The YT video linked on the page made me way more curious then I thought I'd be.
thepasswordis|4 years ago
gzalo|4 years ago
I think they may have used the wrong prefix haha
dTal|4 years ago
amelius|4 years ago
ghostly_s|4 years ago
askvictor|4 years ago