Virginia home can monitor seniors

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Jim Humphries stretches over the kitchen counter, rummaging through his shelves for a box of tea. If he feels on display, it doesn't show.

But his house is watching him closely.

Seven red-eye sensors track his every move, blinking on and off as he walks past. There are sensors in his refrigerator and kitchen cabinets. Another soon will be installed at leg-level in the living room to monitor how Humphries is walking.

This unblinking "smart house" may seem a bit Orwellian, but its designers hope to use it in a benevolent way. They are checking up on people suffering from chronic conditions, such as Alzheim-er's or osteoarthritis, whose symptoms are gradual and often overlooked.

By watching the person's activities over a long period, a smart home would notice small changes that may indicate bigger problems in the future. A slight limp, for instance, or differences in eating habits or the morning routine.

The Medical Automation Research Center in Charlottesville has been working on the house for more than a year with the idea of helping independent-minded seniors who aren't ready to relinquish control of their lives to their children or a nursing home.

Easing the burden

Project supervisor Robin Felder hopes to someday build a system that can monitor its residents' blood pressure and check if they're taking their medication. Researchers also are working on toilet sensors that could conduct a urinalysis and a kitchen console that would chart a person's diet by scanning the bar codes on grocery packages.

"Everybody I talk to has the same story of trying to care for a parent or grandparent as they get older," Felder said. "Somebody's got to deal with it, and hopefully technology can ease the burden."

If successful, the technology also would become available for the burgeoning group of seniors who live at home. During the past decade, the number of people older than 65 grew from 31.2 million to 35 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

"There's a definite need for something like this," said AAHSA spokesman Bruce Rosenthal.

Last spring, Felder persuaded tennis buddy Humphries -- a 42-year-old registered nurse in perfect health -- to become the guinea pig for the idea and turn his brick frame house into a research lab, indefinitely.

Researchers fastened motion sensors to the walls with blue poster putty, each sending a signal to a computer in his study.

"There was an initial reluctance to do this, knowing that they were tracking me all the time," Humphries said. "But within days, I got used to the little flashing lights."

Mountain of data

The main challenge is to determine how to accurately interpret the massive amount of information coming each day from the sensors.

So far, Steve Kell, project manager for the smart house, has found only minor details about Humphries' lifestyle: "He doesn't watch TV -- he listens to it from the kitchen."

But somewhere within the data log, researchers hope to eventually find his key behavior patterns -- when he wakes up, what he generally eats for breakfast, if he showers every day. With that information, they can program the smart home to watch if Humphries starts to deviate from that pattern over time.

The center hopes to cram this technology into a small appliance with a simple plug and a few sensors that anyone could install, Felder said.

Companies offering the smart home service would receive the data, analyze the information and send health reports via the Internet back to the smart home, or the home of a concerned relative.