A Remedy for Fall Risk

A new movementmonitoring system offers safer movement for older adults.

Falls are the leading cause of injury — and death caused by injury — for adults 65 and older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The population of older adults is expected to pass 85 million by 2050, and a quarter of them fall each year, with 1 in 5 incidents resulting in serious injury. The OEDK team calling itself “Three Seasons” (because “with us, there is no fall”) designed an assessment system that enables doctors to create personalized risk-management strategies for patients based on their movement patterns at home. This could help older adults reduce health care bills and live in their homes longer.

A Wearable Device

The system includes a device worn as a fanny pack, a homemapping and movementmonitoring component, and an artificial intelligence-mediated data-processing element. “Our wearable device tracks location, movement and time,” says team member Vanessa Garlepp ’23. “Everything is written to a micro SD card, and the data is postprocessed.”

Lidar Technology

The system includes a lidar scanner mounted on a tripod that maps a room’s layout, including the furniture, at different heights.

Collecting Data

“Our device not only detects falls in the home but also what patients were doing before the fall, where they were when they fell, etc.,” teammate Ahalya Lettenberger ’23 says.

A Map of Safe Paths

“Combined with the ultrawideband location sensing, [the lidar system] provides physicians with a map of how a patient moves in their home and helps them find the riskiest locations,” says team member Chris Heuser ’23. According to the group, patients often don’t recall where or why they fell, and this device will supply physicians with needed context. Teammate Fadeel Khan ’23 adds, “Most patients experience some form of activity or a dizzy spell within a certain time period [before a fall].”