Users can use Touch Care to monitor the daily routines of their parents living alone using a smartphone app. (image: ETRI)
DAEJEON, Feb. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) has developed Touch Care technology that uses human body communications technology to detect the movement of a person when he or she makes contact with a certain object.
Touch Care comes in the form of wristbands or touch tags that can easily be attached to objects.
If a user wearing a touch wristband makes contact with an object with the touch tag attached, the movement information of the user is sent to the wristband.
Collected data can be used for variety of purposes, including senior care services, via Internet of Things (IoT) channels.
A touch wristband, for instance, can remind seniors to take essential medication if they forget to take their dosage.
Touch Care can also be used to inform users about drug dosage, number of meals per day, indoor locations, and send out emergency calls when danger is detected.
Users can also use Touch Care to monitor the daily routines of their parents living alone using a smartphone app.
ETRI will begin testing the Touch Care service at local senior welfare centers before putting it to commercial use.
The institute also plans to cooperate with construction firms to introduce Touch Care at residential complexes for seniors.
“Previous technologies using cameras or motion sensors were only good enough for monitoring indoor activities,” said Park Hyoung-il, a researcher at ETRI.
“Now, Touch Care will be able to provide a variety of services at a lower cost.”
ETRI plans to showcase Touch Care at the upcoming Mobile World Congress 2019 to be held in Barcelona, Spain on February 25.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
