Overview
The Center for Eldercare and Rehabilitation Technology (CERT) includes an interdisciplinary group of faculty, staff, and students who are focused on investigating, developing, and evaluating technology to serve the needs of older adults and others with physical and cognitive challenges. This diverse group represents Electrical and Computer Engineering, Biological Engineering, Nursing, Social Work, Physical Therapy, and Health Informatics.
Six active projects are currently funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Administration on Aging, the RAND/Hartford Foundation, and the Alzheimer’s Association for a total of nearly $4M.
The CERT’s current work is focused on monitoring older adults through a network of sensors placed in the environment ranging from simple motion sensors to video sensors to a bed sensor that captures sleep restlessness and pulse and respiration levels. Sensor networks have been installed in more than eight apartments in TigerPlace, an assisted living facility in Columbia, MO, designed for aging in place.
Data collection has been ongoing for two years in some apartments. This longevity in sensor data collection is allowing researchers to study the data and develop algorithms for identifying alert conditions such as falls as well as extracting typical daily activity patterns for an individual. The goal is to capture patterns representing physical and cognitive health conditions and then recognize when activity patterns begin to deviate from the norm. In doing so, researchers strive to provide early detection of potential problems which may lead to serious health events if left unattended. With proper interventions, small problems can be addressed before they become major health problems, thus maintaining a high level of functionality and a high quality of life for older adults as they age.
Highlights of current projects include (1) development of algorithms for processing data from motion sensors, bed sensors and other passive sensors in the home, (2) investigating potential correlations between sensor data collected in the home and pertinent health events or trends in the medical records, (3) studying the reaction of older adults to the sensor network including privacy issues related to the monitoring, (4) the development of a secure web interface for displaying the sensor data, (5) the development of a video sensor network which identifies falls, captures gait patterns in the home, and summarizes activity through innovative processing that preserves privacy, (6) development of an exercise assistant which captures body movement and aids in evaluating the form and safety of the participant, and (7) development of a smart carpet for recognizing falls.
The Center for Eldercare and Rehabilitation Technology is unique in its strong collaboration with gerontology experts, the connection to an aging in place facility like TigerPlace, access to medical records for approved projects, the ability to monitor activity in real homes rather than the demonstration projects often found in other research groups, and the elder residents who have volunteered to participate in the projects.
