Fall detecting sensor increases safety, pranks on job sites

Japanese manufacturer Exsight Inc. has a new wearable sensor that'll let bosses keep tabs on employees working on hazardous job sites, able to detect when someone has fallen down and even withstand explosions (just the sensor, not the person). It works simply by watching for when a person hasn't moved for a preset period of time, ringing an alarm when it detects immobility to notify others nearby that the person needs assistance and transmitting the alert back to a receiver that can be placed up to 100 meters, or over 300 feet, away. If you're not incapacitated but still in trouble, you can also simply push a button on the sensor to sound the alarm or, you know, toss it out the window if you just want to freak out your boss.

[Richard Lai @ Dec 14th 2006 8:33PM]

This device will also catch workers who go off sleeping somewhere.

[Brandon West @ Dec 14th 2006 8:40PM]

Your article is misleading. The device doesn't actually have accelerometers or anything to detect altitude change. It's more like code that throws a human timeout exception if you don't move. I don't see where you got the "fall detection" part of it, and in fact I think this would get much greater use detecting laziness rather than.

Seems pretty dumb. Some kind of wireless triangulation would make much more sense, then you could detect acceleration along 3 axes, and it wouldn't be too difficult to achieve that sort of setup capable of a 300 ft range in most environments.

[Richard Lai @ Dec 14th 2006 8:55PM]

I think they meant the fall detection as in the aftermath. But I do agree that the final line is suggesting that the device has accelerometers, which doesn't seem to be true.

[Preston Ursini @ Dec 14th 2006 9:00PM]

Fire departments have used these for ages. They are called PASS devices, and come built into air packs now, so if you're in a house, and have your air pack on, you have a PASS. They have little gyroscopes in them that see if you're moving, if you sit still too long, they go into pre alarm mode, and if you don't move after that, they get loud.

[George @ Dec 14th 2006 9:17PM]

is this news?

[Simon @ Dec 14th 2006 9:40PM]

Wow! You guys are pedantic.

[Nequam @ Dec 14th 2006 11:11PM]

My partners father patended a similar device that would alert mining workers when big machinery was travelling near them in the mine etc. He found that the device actually made things worse as workers would rely too much on the device and wouldn't take notice of what's going on around them unless the device was telling them something was coming/close.

I hope the same doesn't happen for employers if they give their staff these, not looking out for your employees welfare until it's too late because a machine will tell them when they're in trouble.

I hate to say it, but the good old 'prevention is better than a cure' is very relevant for devices like these.

[Mike @ Dec 15th 2006 1:15AM]

Again, not news. These have been around for a while now. The "Talkman" fanny pack we had at the warehouse had something like this in it. And it sounds like firefighters have had them for some time now too...

Must be a slow news day...

[peblo-c @ Dec 15th 2006 7:43AM]

old news, these have been used in secure units in hospitals in the UK for years

[ePants @ Dec 15th 2006 10:45AM]

Hmmm...since it doesn't actually detect the "fall," but rather the "lying-motionless" afterwards...why would it be necessary to label which end is "up"? O_o

In an implimentation meeting somewehere:
"Ok, now, if anyone falls, you must fall in such a way that this arrow points upward. Otherwise, the sensor won't notify management and your incident will not qualify as a "fall." As per our company guidelines, any floor/ground to human/body interaction not designated as a "fall" will not be covered by your insurance."

^_^

[Graham @ Dec 15th 2006 12:00PM]

perfect for long bathroom breaks. Go take a dump and 5 minutes later the boss is banging on the portapottie.

[Anjali @ May 19th 2009 7:15AM]

Although mechanical examples of computers have existed throughout history, the first resembling a modern computer were developed in the mid-20th century

[Anjali @ May 19th 2009 7:21AM]

Although mechanical examples of computers have existed throughout history, the first resembling a modern computer were developed in the mid-20th century