ROBO M.D. and other subprojects implemented in Innovation 4 Welfare program

Dr. Petr Bartoš, Ph.D.

University of South Bohemia IFA2012Faculty of Pedagogy May 30th 2012Department of Applied Physics and Technology Prague

Introduction

Program Innovation 4 Welfare is financed by the European Union.

- 8 projects, duration 1.5 year:• FITHERHAB• FOBOS• HAS PASSPORT• MNEMOSYNE• MRH• PICKFIBER• ROBO M.D.• TIAM

ROBO M.D.

ROBO M.D. (Monitor & Detect)– monitor bio-signals– detect critical situations and possibly predict them, before they

occur. – focused on elderly persons living at home

Specifications/requirements on the system:– to develop low-cost equipment– system based on modular structure– wireless communication of all the components– easy to use– non-invasive system

Johannes Kepler University

Italian National Research Council

University of Applied Sciences

University of TartuBudget

AT 135.000 €

IT 70.000 €

NL 101.360 €

CZ 76.000 €

EE 63.636 €

445.996 €

Participants

University of South Bohemia

System architecture

Medical service, nurse, guardian, …

Software

data processing decision

What we would like to monitor– ECG– EEG– Skin Temperature– Acceleration– Blood Pressure (continuously)– Respiration– O2 Saturation– Glucose concentration

What we can monitor easily

– ECG (single lead)

– Skin Temperature

– Acceleration

cost: 1.000 £

Signals and detection

Signals and detection

Software running on a PC

Data processing

Decision / Alert

• What we would like to detect (predict)– Heart attack– Stroke– a fall– Apnea– Hyper-, Hypotension– Hyper-, Hypoglycemia– …

• To be able to detect one special case, we need the right information from the user (monitor signals)

• The combination of some signals might give additional information Cross analysis, 1 + 1 ≠ 2

Signals and detection

Questionaire, robot• Daily questions were created

„Would you like to answer some questions today?“no answer: -- repeat questionno: -- do not ask anything more yes: start to ask…e.g.,

„Are you feeling ok today?“

…

• Questions in the case of an alert were createdExample: Algorithm detects a fall“Did you fall down?“

no answer: confirm the alarmno: wrong detection by the algorithmyes: confirm the alarm

“Do you need help?”yes: organize help (out of

scope of this project)no: --no answer: organize help

Thank youfor your attention!

bartos-petr@seznam.cz

• Limited range of the wireless connections (Bluetooth – 10m)• No connection through walls, i.e. the PC has to be located in the

same room as the patient• Quality of the recorded signals is partially bad • The electrode of the ECG sensor has to be replaced every day• The robot can only operate in a room without obstacles

Problems to solve...

• Target group: elderly people, living (alone) at home or almost autonomous in home for old people

• Automatic detection of critical situations (e.g., a fall) as well as automatic initialization of rescue procedure, if needed

• Use of measurement devices which do not increase the burden of the patient

• Use of rather cheap equipment, wireless devices, simplest possible interaction with the user

• Collection of sensor data to predict critical situations (e.g., general dangerous long-term variation in the heart activity)

• If required, forward the data to a professional (medical doctor) for analysis

• development until series-production readiness (we are far from it!)• Connections of the system with medical personnel, or any other external

organizations

Project idea

No goals of the project