SBIR Phase II: Automated Monitoring and Alarming for Elder Care

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二期项目将为居住在养老机构的居民开发一个自动监控系统。该系统将使设施工作人员能够快速响应任何需要干预的事件或行为，例如意外摔倒，使用计算机视觉进行跟踪和行为分析。先前的第一阶段研究在实验室原型的帮助下证明了这种方法用于跌倒检测和行为分析的可行性。这项工作也强调了一些挑战，比如处理不断变化的照明条件和复杂的行为。第二阶段的研究将集中于解决这些挑战，并在实际的老年护理设施中创建12个测试站点，以进一步开发和测试算法。这个项目的商业应用将是与老年人护理有关的机构。由于不断增长的老年人人口中有50%以上住在独立/辅助生活设施或养老院，无人看管的跌倒造成的伤害和死亡是一个严重的社会和经济问题。每年有超过180万老年人跌倒，每次跌倒平均花费9400美元住院治疗。这项提议的工作可能会产生一种解决方案，提供一种快速应对跌倒的方法，可节省高达26%的住院费用，更重要的是，可将死亡可能性降低82%。这也将有助于为老年人和他们的照顾者产生一种安全感，而不会大幅增加医疗成本。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop an automated monitoring system for residents living in elder care facilities. This system will enable the facility staff to quickly respond to any event or behavior requiring intervention, such as an accidental fall, using computer vision for tracking and behavior analysis. Prior Phase I research demonstrated the feasibility of this approach for fall detection and behavior analysis with the help of a laboratory prototype. This work also highlighted several challenges, such as dealing with changing lighting conditions and complex behaviors. Phase II research will focus on addressing these challenges and creating twelve beta sites in actual elder care facilities to further develop and test the algorithms. The commercial application of this project will be on institutions linked to the care of the elderly. With over 50% of the growing population of seniors staying in independent / assistive living facilities or nursing homes, injuries and deaths resulting from unattended falls represent a serious societal and economical problem. Over 1.8 million seniors fall each year, with each fall costing an average of $9,400 in hospitalization. The proposed work could lead to a solution that provides a way for quickly responding to falls, saving hospitalization costs up to 26% and more importantly, reducing the likelihood of death by as much as 82%. It would also help in generating a feeling of security for the elders and their care givers, without a substantial increase in healthcare costs.