As people get older, their physical strength begins to decline. The combination of unstable mobility and weak physical health can lead to falls which can result in severe injuries if help does not arrive in time.
To address this concern, MTEC-NTSDA has introduced Gunther Bath, a system for detecting and alerting falls and slips in bathrooms. The device is designed for wall mounting without using image recording to protect individuals’ privacy.
Dr. Sarawut Lerspalungsanti, Director of Engineering Design and Computation Research Group at MTEC, provided an overview of Gunther Bath which consists of a wall-mounted ambient ultra-wideband sensor, the Learning and Need-Anticipating Hub (LANAH), a well-living application, and an emergency button. The ambient sensor detects movement and processes the collected data using artificial intelligence (AI). LANAH serves as the central system for receiving data from the sensor and transmitting it to other devices. The well-living application is an app that provides notifications of falls and slips to caregiver, and an emergency button is for confirming emergencies.
The concept of Gunther Bath involves using sensors to detect the behavior of bathroom users. The wall-mounted ambient sensor captures posture and transition of the user, and this data is processes by AI. If a fall is detected, the system will notify the caregiver via a well-living application. After receiving the notification, the caregiver can communicate with the person through the app and a speaker mounted on the bathroom wall to provide instruction while medical assistance is on its way.
The unique features of Gunther Bath include privacy protection, detection accuracy and low production cost. To protect user privacy, Gunther Bath does not capture and record images. Its AI system has been trained to learn movement patterns and is able to accurately detect falls. By limiting the device’s monitoring capacity to one person at a time, the production cost can be kept low, making Gunther Bath more affordable.
Gunther Bath is part of MTEC’s innovation design to support independent living for seniors and enable relatives and caregivers to remotely monitor the safety of the elderly living. The technology is available for licensing or research collaboration.