SensNews May 2016

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5 Sensor100 May 2016
The SPHERE House Can Monitor Its Residents’
Health
Wearable sensors linked to smart phones
are currently a leading product in the con-
sumer technology market. This technology
has now moved far passed simple monitor-
ing of heart rate, which was state of the
art in the 1980s, to measuring movement,
sleep patterns, even emotions. Efforts are
being made to include biochemical param-
eters like lactate and glucose; as reported
in issue, Profusa
now has an implantable sensor which is
stable for two years.
Possibly the world has too many wear-
able sensor start-up companies, a problem
which time and investors will resolve.
Fitbit, for example is now subject to a
class action suit for reporting erroneous
results. Aside from accuracy issues, most wearable sensor developers are
very much aware of the Big Brother factor - to what extent are people
reluctant to have their every move monitored? Counting your steps each
day, how much you sleep, even how many calories you consume daily - are
these things which the average, as opposed to fanatical, person wants to
know all the time?
Now a research team lead by the University of Bristol, UK, has equipped
an oldVictorian house with an integrated system of 60 sensors, cameras,
and occupant wearables. The plan is for up to 100 such homes to be wired
by 2018. Occupants of the houses will be subject to Big Brother scrutiny
24 hours a day, but with the option of disabling information they prefer to
keep private.
Photo: Sion Hannuna