alt Hacker NewsMy mother is living alone in her house and we are getting to the point where she might not be able to live alone. I built "Still Kicking", a picture frame that monitors her motion and sends back basic reports and can detect falls and sleep quality to a phone app, to help give her more time at home.
It's just an mmWave sensor connected to an ESP32. But it works nicely, and I'm thinking of starting a company making them, though I'm not clear if the elderly would be ok with this minimal (no camera) intrusion.
It would just work out of the box.. the real one would have a small cell modem so it wouldn't need any networking setup, and it would act as a gateway if you have more than one in a house. There are industrial versions of this for nursing homes. This would be a bit more warm and fuzzy for home use.
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I love it. As a physician, I see so many cases of elderly patients who have fallen and not been found for hours if not days.
In elder care, I am building https://statphone.com - one emergency number that rings multiple family members simultaneously and breaks through DND. Would love to chat/collaborate.
“Still Kicking” is a fantastic name for that.
Pretty cool... I dabbled into the idea of having a super simple tablet on a frame with a one-touch call function to family members - obviously with a camera and much different, but also revolving about the photo frame idea.
Mom had a stroke a few years ago and while thankfully she's recovered well, I'd buy this. Having designed for seniors and helped senior care focused companies, it's not so much the senior that you'd sell to but their adult children.
Good luck and for what it's worth, go for it!
There was a Minnesota company called Healthsense (was acquired by GreatCall which was then acquired by BestBuy, not sure if the company/tech exists anymore) that had a similar approach on a broader scale. Their system used a bunch of mundane smart home sensors in the usual configuration (e.g. contact sensors on doors, motion sensors, etc) but also for tracking patterns and habits, like the refrigerator door, toilet seat, bed, etc. The idea being that an abrupt shift in behavior would trigger a notice for a loved one or nurse to check in. I always thought this was a cool idea and it's a shame it didn't take off a bit more.
The question of "intrusion" was always interesting to me because old folks often face going from nothing to assisted living or nursing home which is often quite intrusive, where somewhat ironically adding a bunch of sensors to your home allows you a bit more privacy.
Kind of a tangent, but I like your type of system as an alternative to the emergency pendants. It always struck me as strange to expect old folks at risk of fall to remember to charge and wear a pendant at all times.
Start this company! You see the responses from just a small sample, this is your sign to go in on it! Good luck!
Look into some of the products and services used in Japan for elderly care at home.
My FIL, in his late 80's was living at home alone. My wife used a monitoring service, provided by local package delivery company. They installed motion sensors in the toilet and on the door. If no motion detected for 24 hours, the company will alert my wife by phone and send the nearest delivery driver to check on him.
I myself have tried Home Assistant setup on Raspberry Pi and variety of sensors for different purposes.
This was covered on HN a while back, https://alvis.care/
Your verification email is pointing to http://localhost:3000/ lol
I would buy it. I have built a similar contraption. Let's connect.
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I own a national home care provider (in 13 states) and EHR. We are looking for products like this. Book office hours if you’re interested in discussing:
https://calendly.com/ryanwmartin/open-office-hours