Innovative Fall Sensor Embedded in Footwear
Two Clarkson University physical therapy professors are developing an innovative fall sensor that can be worn inside the shoe. The Automatic Longitudinal Assessment Risk Monitor (ALARM) device will evaluate fall risk in real time, during activities of daily living, and identify the exact activities when fall risk for a specific individual is at its greatest point. The ALARM device consists of a small clip-on attached to the subject's footwear. The clip-on contains a 3D accelerometer, a processor and storage, and Bluetooth wireless circuitry. A pressure-sensitive insole is connected to the clip-on device through a USB connector.
Transcript
00:00:07 we've been working with edward zazenoff who is a research professor in the electrical and computer engineering department here at clarkson we've been working on developing different sensors to help identify people who are at risk for falls we usually think about collaborating
00:00:25 within the healthcare professions but here we have the opportunity to collaborate well outside of that and that's really what makes it a big deal and so the pressure sensors are embedded within an insole right here that slides into somebody's shoe and in this little box here we have an
00:00:44 accelerometer and so that pressure and acceleration data are taken while the person's moving and sent wirelessly via bluetooth to the smartphone and then the smartphone kind of collects and holds that data force and it was able to distinguish between people who
00:01:02 were at risk and people who were not at risk for falls this changes things for physical therapy because we will have information and the patient will have information over a 24-hour period every day and it's interesting also from my perspective as a clinician and as a physical therapist to work
00:01:22 so closely with another discipline such as engineering we think a lot different but when it all comes together the the product of that is something phenomenal you know so it just goes to show you you really do have to collaborate and get outside your normal realm to make super things happen through
00:01:40 clarkson available through clarkson