A Wearable Haptic System for the Health Monitoring of Elderly People in Smart Cities

International audienceA sensor-fusion wearable health-monitoring system with integrated haptic feedback was previously introduced by our research group. The system's components are the following: a chest-worn device with an embedded controller board, an electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor, a temperature sensor, an accelerometer, a vibration motor, a colour-changing light-emitting diode (LED) and a pushbutton. This multi-sensor device makes possible to collect biometric and medical monitoring data from its wearer. The data provide a real-time indication of the wearer's health state and can also be further analysed later for medical diagnosis. The embedded vibration motor can actuate distinctive haptic feedback patterns according to the wearer's health state. The embedded colour-changing LED provides the wearer with an additional intuitive visual feedback of the current health state, and the wearer can report a potential emergency condition by using the pushbutton. In this paper, a conceptual case study is presented concerning possible applications for the health monitoring of elderly people in smart cities. The proposed system aims at reducing risk by assessing individual and overall potentially-harmful situations. A data collection and analysis are also presented to demonstrate that the system can provide compelling vibrotactile feedback

Teaching Motion Control in Mechatronics Education Using an Open Framework Based on the Elevator Model

Universities and other educational institutions may find it difficult to afford the cost of obtaining cutting-edge teaching resources. This study introduces the adoption of a novel open prototyping framework in the context of mechatronics education, employing low-cost commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components and tools for the motion control module. The goal of this study is to propose a novel structure for the motion control module in the engineering mechatronics curriculum. The objective is to foster a new teaching method. From a methodology perspective, students are involved in a series of well-organised theoretical lectures as well as practical, very engaging group projects in the lab. To help students understand, draw connections, and broaden their knowledge, the methods of surface learning and deep learning are frequently mixed thoroughly. The structure of the course as well as the key topics are discussed. The proposed open framework, which consists of an elevator model, is presented in details. Students’ early evaluation indicates that the course organisation and subjects are successful and beneficial.publishedVersio

A Wearable Haptic System for the Health Monitoring of Elderly People in Smart Cities

A sensor-fusion wearable health-monitoring system with integrated haptic feedback was previously introduced by our research group. The system's components are the following: a chest-worn device with an embedded controller board, an electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor, a temperature sensor, an accelerometer, a vibration motor, a colour-changing light-emitting diode (LED) and a push-button. This multi-sensor device makes possible to collect biometric and medical monitoring data from its wearer. The data provide a real-time indication of the wearer's health state and can also be further analysed later for medical diagnosis. The embedded vibration motor can actuate distinctive haptic feedback patterns according to the wearer's health state. The embedded colour-changing LED provides the wearer with an additional intuitive visual feedback of the current health state, and the wearer can report a potential emergency condition by using the push-button. In this paper, a conceptual case study is presented concerning possible applications for the health monitoring of elderly people in smart cities. The proposed system aims at reducing risk by assessing individual and overall potentially-harmful situations. A data collection and analysis are also presented to demonstrate that the system can provide compelling vibrotactile feedback