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PassivSystems Room Monitor Detects Movement, and Heart Attacks

by Warren Riddle on July 1, 2010 at 05:00 PM

ecgRecent developments in medical science have enabled patients with heart conditions to experience unprecedented methods of surgery and rehabilitation. Tireless and precise remote-controlled robots provide doctors with "complete control" over surgical procedures, and an advanced and minimized artificial heart recently allowed a father to leave the hospital for the first time in two years.

Aside from healthy living and electronic bracelets, however, preventative measures and response techniques are limited. But, a group of scientists in England now appear close to empowering the elderly and the alone with a new protective monitoring system. The technology from PassivSystems can reportedly determine a fall or a heart attack in a monitored room, and then autonomously request assistance. The monitoring system also apparently recognizes brain, nerve and muscle signals.

Based on electrocardiogram technology, the system relies on a sensor that detects electronic signals in a room. Unlike current motion detectors, the sensor differentiates between multiple people and objects, and detects disruptions in a room's magnetic fields. According to Popular Science, "with enough algorithms and calibrations, the system could tell if someone has fallen or had a heart attack." Scientists have already demonstrated the system's effectiveness when used in close proximity to study participants, but only within one or two feet.

With an official technology grant, the research group hopes to provide independence and reassurance to both users and their families. Although those enormous potential benefits are certainly impressive, the inevitably obsolete "I've fallen and I can't get up" spoofs will surely be missed. [From: The Economist and Popular Science]

Tags: elderly, Electrocardiogram, health, HealthMonitor, heart, HeartAttack, medical, MotionSensing, passivsystems, research, science, top

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