Hassle-free Sensing Technologies for Monitoring Daily Health Changes

In an aging society beset with a multitude of social problems, there are growing expectations for technologies to support elderly people and patients in maintaining and increasing the “things that I can do for myself.” Such expectations can be met by expanding the use of advanced mobile devices in diverse scenarios, by developing wearable sensors, and by using numerous sensors embedded in the environment. These actions will enable widespread extensive use of mechanisms for supporting human activities and health in everyday life. An important technological element for achieving such mechanisms is the ability to continually sense the state of the individual and the surrounding environment. This means first and foremost that sensors must be able to capture essential information as a performance requirement. It also means that sensing must be convenient for the user; i.e., the difficulty or bother of operating sensors must be eliminated, and the continuous collection of information must be hassle-free. Under the theme of “health support in daily life,” this paper describes detection of a person’s pulse through facial imaging and in-home monitoring using compact, light, and multi-functional wearable sensors as sensing technologies for hassle-free understanding of an individual’s behavior and health. It also introduces joint research on assisted independent living for smart house residents.