The life-saving Bluetooth shirt sensor
posted Oct 11th 2004 1:15PM
A shirt has been fitted with a 2cm x 2cm
sensor that signals loved ones when the wearer is moving at great speeds horizontally. In other words, the good people
in Singapore have developed Life Alert for shirts. Fit an elderly person with one of these shirts, and once he or
she has taken a fall, the device transmits, via Bluetooth, to a nearby computer or cellphone and alerts those
designated to pick up Mr. or Mrs. Old. Sounds good on the surface, but we must raise a couple questions.
The system assumes that grandma has a Bluetooth-enabled computer or cellphone. That assumption is a bit of a stretch -
not even all the early adopters we know have Bluetooth phones yet. Besides, let's say grandma isn't so neat with
her laundry, and like us, just throws her shirt into a pile at the end of the day. Is that considered a fall?
Will that trigger some Rescue 911 action?
great speeds horizontally--wouldn't vertical speeds be better? What if someone just of a sudden collapses in a lump? Steep stairs? A ladder? Maybe I'm just not understanding the target market.
I have caught my grandmother once or twice on a trampoline...
Larry: "Jerry, are you seeing this? Mrs. de Zeeuw just fell like 8 times."
Jerry: "I've handled situations like this before. Call the Church, we need an young priest and an old priest."
if they are going to take things that far, they might as well equip the shirt with an airbag. the next step? perhaps.
My girlfriend is Singaporean and from what she says this is actually not meant to interface with your computer, but with the building itself. I wasn't aware that it was based off of bluetooth technology, but from what she says these will be used in building specifically designed for an older crowd, so grandma doesn't have to worry about having a computer, grandma's landlord does.
What if you're at the bus stop facing traffic, and where did you get that picture of my dad?