COLUMBIA - With baby boomers taking on new titles as senior citizens, MU researchers are developing technology to help family members keep an eye on their elderly loved ones' welfare without cutting into their independence.
While members of the senior citizen generation might not know computers all that well, they'll be living healthier because technology will be reporting every move they make, literally.
Ordinary carpeting is probably one of the most passive areas of everyday life, but it's turning it into a wealth of information.
"All of the nice things technology should do for us, this does," said Professor Harry Tyrer of the MU College of Engineering.
It doesn't look so special now, but in about a year, this carpet will be magical.
"All of us have aging parents, we want them to live well and live comfortably, and we wonder, 'How's Mom doing this morning?' I don't want to be obtrusive, I don't want to embarrass her, I just want to know how she's doing. I can go on the computer, on the web and see, 'Oh yeah, Mom's been walking around this morning,'" Tyrer said.
Tyrer and his team have received $200,000 from the Alzheimers Association to work with MU's Sinclair School of Nursing to develop a smart carpet that would electronically monitor a senior's location and sound an alert if there's a problem.
"We thought technology could be a key answer to the problems with functional decline, with early illness recognition, medication management, falls, lots of problems people tend to develop as they age," said Professor Marilyn Rantz of the MU Sinclair School of Nursing.
An interdisciplinary committee took on the question of how new technology can conquer age-old problems with aging.
"No one person in a single discipline has enough information to solve the problem," Engineering Professor Marjorie Skubic said. "It demands we have all of these people working together."
The smart carpet project uses a new type of sensor that can be printed on thin, flexible sheets using what is known as organic ink. Organic ink sensors are not only flexible, but potentially inexpensive, making it practical to use them by the thousands. Plus, seniors would be free from camera eyes.
"We put that information in a computer, and when the computer senses there are things that shouldn't be happening, the computer would warn a caregiver," Tyrer said.
Tyrer hopes to have a prototype ready by the end of this year. His team plans to test the smart carpet at TigerPlace and The Bluffs, two senior housing complexes in Columbia.
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