Back on your Feet

A device that detects when an elderly person is in need of assistance & automatically texts their emergency contact.

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Back on your Feet

Abstract:

Elderly people are beloved by their friends and family. However, many are left alone and as such are very likely to injure themselves in various ways. One such example occurs when a loved one falls and cannot get back up, and so is left to themselves until someone stumbles upon them.
The device will reach their emergency contact.

Introduction:

We used a WEMOS D1, an Arduino Uno built with a Wi-Fi module, an Arduino Nano, and an accelerometer. Upon falling, the device messages the emergency contact who is asked to provide updates on the state of the fallen victim. After receiving the update, the platform will either classify their incident as resolved with the victim being saved, or as an emergency, in which case it will reach out to the local care center.

Specs:

Back on your Feet can have customizable limits for fall detection, multiple receivers of messages, its own personal number, customizable messages and procedures such as who to call, customizable wait times before action.

Procedure:

_Fall detection:_
The accelerometer with its built-in gyroscope senses the acceleration in the x, y, and z coordinates. Once the magnitude of the z acceleration exceeds a certain value, the Arduino Nano interprets this as the victim having fallen.
_Data transfer:_
The WEMOS receives a 5-volt input from the Arduino Nano and connects over the Wi-Fi to the Internet to reach the Twilio platform.
_Twilio:_
Twilio receives data from the WEMOS and sends the following text message to the emergency contact: “Hello your loved one appears to have fallen. Please contact them and reply ‘OK’ if they are safe or ‘EMERGENCY’ if they are in danger or cannot be reached.”

Upon receiving the reply, the incident is classified as either a false alarm, or as an emergency where the local care center will be reached.

Possibilities For the Future:

Back on your Feet is not a standalone client but rather an extension to a possible service that includes other sensors. All these types of scenarios will have their own custom messages and wait times before taking its own actions. Possible scenarios are:
  • Water Level Sensor: This will take care of forgotten open taps such as bathtubs or kitchen sinks. This is to help prevent water damage or even to monitor whether or not they DIED in the bathtub. Morbid shit eh?
  • Door Sensors: This will monitor the doors and their current state, sending a message if it is left a jar for too long or even not locked at night.
  • Oven/Stove Sensors: This will monitor if the stove or oven is on for a longer than safe period, either forgotten or put too high for the elder’s possible needs.

Developers:

Albert Najjar • B.Eng Software Engineering 3rd year • albertnajjar@outlook.com

Hugo Provencher • B.Eng Mechanincal Engineering 3rd year • hugoprov@gmail.com

Jessica Allaire • B.Eng Software Engineering 3rd year • jessica.allaire.96@hotmail.com

Jonathan Mastromonaco • B.S. Computer Science 3rd year • johnymastro@gmail.com

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