Design of a Smart IoT-Enabled Walker for Deployable Activity and Gait Monitoring

Abstract

Increases in the rates of chronic disease and an aging population have created a demand for new forms of preventative care and proactive health monitoring technologies. While senior populations may be hesitant to adopt wearable technologies, the ability to retrofit assistive devices already in use by the individuals may provide a major stepping stone for increased adoption rates and monitoring abilities. Design of such systems often exhibit challenges with respect to sensor selection, placement, and consequently, reliability and usability of the system in real-world environments. As part of a growing line of smart assistive devices, this work presents a proposed design for a multi-sensor walker with pilot data collected and tested in a real-world environment, including outdoors. Preliminary analysis of results demonstrates the ability to determine levels of activity and environments, important factors related to health and wellness and risk of falls.