Veteran technologist Peter Vogel — who invented the first sound sampling music synthesizer, the Fairlight, and the first personal pendant alarm, the Vitalcall 30 years ago — has developed a new system that is claimed to address shortfalls in the Vitalcall technology.
His new technology dubbed CRIS, is completely passive. According to Vogel it does not need to be worn and can call for help automatically.
“[CRIS] silently monitors domestic routines 24/7 and notifies carers of any departure from normal patterns,” he says. “For example, if someone who normally sleeps from 9pm to 5am with one or two toilet breaks has been in bed for 10 hours, an alert can be texted to a family member or carer, who can then phone or visit them.
“If someone is detected as falling out of bed and not getting up immediately, that is more than an ‘alert’, it’s an ‘alarm’ and CRIS will call for medical help.”
Vogel’s company, Vitalcare, will reveal details of CRIS at the upcoming Information Technology in Aged Care (ITAC) conference to be held in Melbourne 28-30 November 2016 where Vogel will co-present a paper on the dementia friendly smart home of the future with professor Tim McCarthy of Wollongong University.
Vitalcare then plans to trial CRIS in partnership with industry partners in the New Year and to make it generally available later in 2017.
Vogel says he plans to offer a portable model for temporary home use on a rental basis. “This is where the biggest need will be in the coming years”, he says. “It simply won’t be possible to put everyone affected by dementia into nursing homes. The numbers are clearly telling us that already.”
I’m detecting a subtle political message in your dementia image. That face is awfully (literally) familiar.
This CRIS sounds intriguing. Looking forward to hearing more, such as how movement patterns are detected without a wearable. So far the only information I can find is this article. Quite the scoop!