Noncontact Detection of Movements of Standing Up From and Sitting Down on a Chair Using Electrostatic Induction

In this paper, a new technique to measure the movements of standing up from and sitting down on a chair, which is an example of daily human activities, without using cameras and video images is presented. The change in the electric potential of the human body caused by everyday tasks induces an electrostatic current in the electrode placed in the proximity of the body. By detecting the motion-induced change in the charge of the human body, it is possible to detect the daily activity being performed. This technique is based on the detection of an electrostatic induction current of the order of sub-picoamperes flowing through an electrode placed 5 m from the subject. Therefore, we measured transferring from chair to chair movement as an example of daily activities and tried to extract the unique features of the individuals included in the movement. The proposed method could further detect the details of an individual by detecting the unique patterns of current flow induced during different motions.