Background

Introduction

These are some preliminary notes on how various interface technologies can be applied to Home Healthcare.

Why home healthcare:

$36 billion market in 1996, over 6 million people

increasing at 15% per year

socially beneficial application of technology

system-level design challenges

existing MIT research

Technological opportunities:

Homes computer penetration >20%?

Internet access >???%?

Wireless communication infrastructure under development….

Current Work at d’Arbeloff

ring sensor

non-invasive optical blood sensors

biochemical sense-and-dispense

rhombus bed/chair system

mobility/navigation cane

continuous wireless monitoring

neonatal monitoring

visual/vestibular eval system

remote cardiopulmonary diagnosis

virtual human model

home automation network

human-centered HVAC


Design Concepts

 

both expert and non-expert users

same equipment, differing levels of information complexity

portability, attractiveness, modularity, connectivity

wireless sensing and diagnostics

industrial design for fit with home environment

scalable, compatible, reconfigurable

variable mappings between sensor and display

integration with Internet tools and devices, java

multiple levels of temporal information

vital signs vs. patient growth, development

wireless network of modular displays and sensors

automatic interfacing/reconfiguration

IR or RF protocol with proximity sensing

tear off a section of the GUI screen

interfacing with traditional media

simulation of physical controls

virtual buttons, mechanisms

virtual displays

scrolling controlled by fish sensors

abstracted vs. specific information displays

 


Potential technologies

 

Sensing

accelerometers

electric field sensors

GPS sensors

heart rate, blood volume, blood oxygen sensors

machine vision (ILL.LIGHT)

liquid haptics

RF tags

Display

led matrix displays

laser raster/vector displays

projection technology

ambient fixtures

wobbalamp

portable MIDI

 


Resources

 

Contacts

Josh Smith (data tags, electric field sensing, programming)

Sandy Pentland (Academic Chair, interested in healthcare applications of wearable computers)

Edwin B…? (PHM student, designer of Handheld Doctor)

Larry Leifer (former advisor, steering committee of steering committee, NSF Workshop on Healthcare Robotics

Pablo Garcia, SRI

Dennis Boyle, IDEO

ML Facilities

Computers

Wearable computing group

Laser cutter

Affective computing group

Becton Dickinson, ML sponsor

Other resources

Med center at MIT?

UROPs?

d’Arbeloff Laboratory

VA RR&D Center Steering evaluation project

Stanford ME