Little sister - Low-cost monitoring for care

About

Many elderly citizens, even though affected by chronic disabilities, wish to retain their autonomy and enjoy their own home for as long as possible. This determines the need for Electronics and ICT systems capable of detecting alarming situations that require intervention, or collecting data to anticipate complications in domestic health care. For professional help this acts as a strong support tool.

With these observations, Little Sister aims to create a sensor-based monitoring system that can match, in terms of performance, the combination of the body-worn devices, bed-mats and the high-resolution camera at the very much reduced cost of up to 100€ per room and operating on batteries for at least one year. We will guarantee a 24/7 operation being able to deal with darkness by integrating both miniature infrared and visual light sensors.

Research design

MICT will help with the dissemination and demonstration of this technology to potential customers and “decision makers” in an elderly care home (operated and followed up by CM).

Furthermore, MICT will perform initial user requirements analyses in which the needs of elderly and their caregivers are identified.

Finally, MICT will evaluate the technology by integrating user experience data (collected with focus groups and interviews) and objective data (sensor data).

Duration of the project

The project runs from 01/01/2013 - 31/12/2013.

Staff involved

• Prof. dr. Jan Van Looy
• Imran Beg

Financed by

• iMinds