Outcome

Project Proposal 

 Falls are the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries for older Americans. Falls threaten seniors’ safety and independence and generate enormous economic and personal costs.  Every 11 seconds, an older adult is treated in the emergency room for a fall. Every 19 minutes, an older adult dies from a fall. Only 1 in 4 older adults report their falls. Loss of self-esteem and mobility leads to decreased activity and eventually inability to perform activities of daily living. 

 We are designing a connected ecosystem for the elderly to mitigate the risk of falls at home. Since we are designing in the context of a bedroom we are going to focus on activities like waking up in the middle of the night, getting off the bed, going to bed etc which present a risk of falling either due to losing balance or lack of vision.

Project Vision 

Falls are the leading cause of both fatal and nonfatal injuries for people aged 65+. Falls can result in hip fractures, broken bones, and head injuries. And even falls without a major injury can cause an older adult to become fearful or depressed, making it difficult for them to stay active. Our vision is to provide a connected ecosystem to help the elderly live independently by mitigating the risk of falls.

What can we do to prevent falls or have a better response in these situations in a bedroom scenario ?

1. Provide support while  getting on and off the bed.
2. Prevent falls due to lack of vision.
3. Ensuring immediate help in case of falls.

For our connected ecosystem we chose the following three systems that would interact with one another - 

1. Bed - Uses pressure sensors to sense presence, elevate the bed for better support and trigger interaction.
   
2. Lights - Guide the elderly and improve vision.
   
3. Fall Detector - Detect falls and notify the loved ones or caregivers.
   

Bed Sensor

A pressure sensor placed between the mattress and the person to sense when the person is getting on or off the bed. It will assist the elderly in two ways:

• Elevating the bed at an angle that will help the elderly climb down the bed comfortably by providing back support (could also be something to grip while getting off)
  
• It will act as a trigger for the light system.
  
• The bed will not elevate if the user is simply moving in bed or sleeping on their stomach. The pressure sensor will work intuitively to identify the pressure points when the elderly person is trying to get up.

Bill of Materials - Bed Sensor

• FSR Sensor 
• Battery Pack 
• Particle Photon 
• Premium M-M Jumper Wires 
• 220 Ohm Resistors      
  

Lights 

• The lights will be switched on when the elderly person is trying to get out of bed. This will eliminate the need for them to switch on the lights in the dark
  
• The lights will also serve as a ambient display of time
  

Bill of Materials - Lights

• Neo-pixel Ring 24 X 500 RGB  - 2
  
• Potentiometer 1 K Ohm linear - 1
  
• Premium M-M Jumper Wires 
  
• 220 ohm and 10k ohm Resistors 
  
• Particle Photon 

Fall Detector

 The fall detector will act as an emergency service in case the person does fall. It will send a notification to their loved ones enabling them to respond to the situation.    

Bill of Materials - Fall Detector

• Particle Photon 
• 10k Ohm Resistors

Reflections

It was necessary to select a situation that was relevant and that could benefited by using IoT. Fall prevention was something that kept coming up during our brainstorming sessions but it was difficult to think of a way to form a connected ecosystem that could address this issue. 

The team analyzed the bedroom space for the elderly and came up with activities and situations that could cause falls in the bedroom. It was also considered that prevention alone will not be sufficient and there needed to be a service that provided emergency care in case of falls. The most difficult part was generating a concept that addressed the problem correctly and effectively. After the three devices had been finalized it became easy for the sub teams to co-ordinate among themselves to generate a harmonious response to fall prevention. Each devices needed to have meaningful interactions with the other two devices. A series of iterations ensured that these interactions were achieved and improved the impact of the connected ecosystem.

After the completion of the project, the team felt that with further iterations the devices could be made more intuitive and additional features could be added to create a bedroom space for the elderly that provided complete fall prevention and care. It was also thought that the three devices could be combined with existing devices in the market (alexa, nest etc) to create a seamless network of devices for the bedroom space.