Unconstrained monitoring of prevention of wandering the elderly

Wandering demented patients are in danger of falling and injuring themselves without a caregiver's support. In this study, we developed an unconstrained monitoring system that notifies wandering in the elderly to their caregiver. The system consists of a step sensor that detects the contact on the floor, an interface for transmitting data to the caregivers and floor lighting. Foot switch was installed beside a subject's bed. When the wandering is detected caregiver is notified it by phone calling via a personal handy-phone system (PHS). The developed system was tested for three subjects and successfully detected the wandering of subjects.