**4.4 Trial of precision care at IoT-based care facilities**

In collaboration with care homes, we are undertaking a project to develop monitoring technology, tailored to individual elderly persons, to prevent accidents and detect early changes in behavior in anticipation of the time when an elderly person with declining living function needs care or support. **Figure 11** shows a system to measure the location of an elderly person with dementia and monitor his

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that can be missed.

*community involvement.*

**Figure 10.**

*Living Function-Resilient Society in the Centenarian Era: Living Safety Technology Based…*

or her behavior, using a beacon embedded in the sole of the person's shoe [9]. Using sensors like this, we can monitor changes in walking patterns. **Figure 12** shows a case in which monitoring over 45 days revealed a change in the walking pattern of an elderly person with dementia: the distance walked decreased greatly about halfway through the monitoring period. Later, we found that the decrease was due to a broken bone caused by a fall. This case shows how the use of sensors allows us to quantify changes in individual persons' behaviors and to accurately detect changes

*Working with a local elderly care management center and a community association to create a map to support* 

Both wearable sensors and smartphones can collect information on individuals, but they use battery power. This is a major hindrance, because devices that require frequent battery changes are not acceptable in real-life settings. At the same time, the use of AI technology not just to find people but also to identify them has made tremendous improvements. Such "non-wearable" has begun to appear. The combination of mounted RGBD cameras and face identification software can allow unintrusive long-term monitoring of individuals, as the monitors are not worn [10]. Some facilities have started to use it. **Figures 13** and **14** show a RGBD camera and a plot of a person's walking posture captured by RGBD camera. This person's walking

pace tended to be slow in the morning and to vary greatly.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85422*

*Living Function-Resilient Society in the Centenarian Era: Living Safety Technology Based… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85422*

#### **Figure 10.**

*Internet of Things (IoT) for Automated and Smart Applications*

and for things that make her happy. **Figure 10** shows a group of elderly people mapping the locations of little-known community involvement events. Currently, we are working with a community association and a local elderly care management center to provide the participants with advanced support, tailored to their individual living conditions, in community involvement, by combining life design support technology and local maps and making good use of resources available in

*Software to support life design based on an enormous amount of life data and life geometric operations (digital* 

*Visualization of life structure patterns (life structure distance space or life structure manifold).*

In collaboration with care homes, we are undertaking a project to develop monitoring technology, tailored to individual elderly persons, to prevent accidents and detect early changes in behavior in anticipation of the time when an elderly person with declining living function needs care or support. **Figure 11** shows a system to measure the location of an elderly person with dementia and monitor his

**4.4 Trial of precision care at IoT-based care facilities**

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the local community.

**Figure 8.**

**Figure 9.**

*crystal ball).*

*Working with a local elderly care management center and a community association to create a map to support community involvement.*

or her behavior, using a beacon embedded in the sole of the person's shoe [9]. Using sensors like this, we can monitor changes in walking patterns. **Figure 12** shows a case in which monitoring over 45 days revealed a change in the walking pattern of an elderly person with dementia: the distance walked decreased greatly about halfway through the monitoring period. Later, we found that the decrease was due to a broken bone caused by a fall. This case shows how the use of sensors allows us to quantify changes in individual persons' behaviors and to accurately detect changes that can be missed.

Both wearable sensors and smartphones can collect information on individuals, but they use battery power. This is a major hindrance, because devices that require frequent battery changes are not acceptable in real-life settings. At the same time, the use of AI technology not just to find people but also to identify them has made tremendous improvements. Such "non-wearable" has begun to appear. The combination of mounted RGBD cameras and face identification software can allow unintrusive long-term monitoring of individuals, as the monitors are not worn [10]. Some facilities have started to use it. **Figures 13** and **14** show a RGBD camera and a plot of a person's walking posture captured by RGBD camera. This person's walking pace tended to be slow in the morning and to vary greatly.

**Figure 11.** *Shoe-embedded location sensor for monitoring of the elderly.*

The facility staff made the following comments on individualized monitoring:


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**Figure 13.**

**Figure 12.**

*Living Function-Resilient Society in the Centenarian Era: Living Safety Technology Based…*

Amid increasing reports of elder abuse, more facilities and users favor the use of sensors. Staff alone will not be able to monitor residents in the level of detail that this will entail. While acknowledging the need for privacy, we need to identify what services can be made possible by what sensing technology (with attendant risks to privacy). It is important to provide levels of services that suit users' needs best by

**4.5 Elderly behavior library for searching for product usage by those with** 

Changes in living function vary among the elderly. Unlike in the case of children, this makes it difficult to classify events by age, because living function varies significantly among people of the same age. We can specify "a bed for babies up to

preparing a variety of options for such services.

*Camera image (left) and measurement of walking posture (right).*

*Results of long-term monitoring with a shoe-embedded location sensor.*

**changing living function**

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85422*

*Living Function-Resilient Society in the Centenarian Era: Living Safety Technology Based… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85422*

#### **Figure 12.**

*Internet of Things (IoT) for Automated and Smart Applications*

The facility staff made the following comments on individualized monitoring:

1.The video of events that may not be accurately communicated by humans is recorded. This allows information on events to be shared accurately (video can

2.By watching the video of actual positioning of things and people at a care facility, instead of reading textbooks, staff awareness is raised, and crisis manage-

3.By watching the video, staff can know what happens when they are not on

4.Staff can monitor daily changes in the walking pace of elderly people and can associate the changes with medications, mental state (dementia), excretion, and pain. Many medications, notably sleeping pills, can cause falls. However, support tools for personal health management have not been available.

5.By associating the profile of an elderly person with risks, staff can know at a glance what risks the person faces, group people with similar needs for better

6.Being able to identify daily changes in individuals and their long-term trend, staff can determine the need for intervention and evaluate the effectiveness of intervention. The monitoring function can also be used as

be used, e.g., when passing information onto another staff member).

ment training can be improved.

*Shoe-embedded location sensor for monitoring of the elderly.*

hand and can take action immediately.

management, and provide better care.

tool for nursing care.

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**Figure 11.**

*Results of long-term monitoring with a shoe-embedded location sensor.*

#### **Figure 13.**

*Camera image (left) and measurement of walking posture (right).*

Amid increasing reports of elder abuse, more facilities and users favor the use of sensors. Staff alone will not be able to monitor residents in the level of detail that this will entail. While acknowledging the need for privacy, we need to identify what services can be made possible by what sensing technology (with attendant risks to privacy). It is important to provide levels of services that suit users' needs best by preparing a variety of options for such services.
