MIT Sleep Monitor Can Track People's Sleeping Positions Using Radio Signals (engadget.com) 15
A team of MIT researchers has developed a device that can monitor people's sleep postures without having to use cameras or to stick sensors on their body. Engadget reports: It's a wall-mounted monitor the team dubbed BodyCompass, and it works by analyzing radio signals as they bounce off objects in a room. As the researchers explained, a device that can monitor sleep postures has many potential uses. It could be used to track the progression of Parkinson's disease, for instance, since people with the condition lose their ability to turn over in bed. To differentiate between radio signals bouncing off a body and signals bouncing off random objects in a room, the system focuses on signals that bounce off a person's chest and belly. In other words, the body parts that move while breathing. It then sends those signals to the cloud, so the BodyCompass system can analyze the user's posture.
The team trained their creation's neural network and tested its accuracy by gathering 200 hours of sleep data from 26 subjects who had to wear sensors on their chest and belly in the beginning. They said that after training the device on a week's worth of data, it predicted the subject's correct body posture 94 percent of the time. In the future, BodyCompass could be paired with other devices to prod sleepers to change positions, such as smart mattresses. When that happens, the device could alert people with epilepsy if they've taken a potentially fatal sleeping position, reduce sleep apnea events and notify caregivers to move immobile patients at risk of developing bedsores. It could also help everyone else get a good night's sleep, because we definitely all need it.
The team trained their creation's neural network and tested its accuracy by gathering 200 hours of sleep data from 26 subjects who had to wear sensors on their chest and belly in the beginning. They said that after training the device on a week's worth of data, it predicted the subject's correct body posture 94 percent of the time. In the future, BodyCompass could be paired with other devices to prod sleepers to change positions, such as smart mattresses. When that happens, the device could alert people with epilepsy if they've taken a potentially fatal sleeping position, reduce sleep apnea events and notify caregivers to move immobile patients at risk of developing bedsores. It could also help everyone else get a good night's sleep, because we definitely all need it.
Oh really (Score:2)
A cheap, simple fitbit could probably do most of that.
Re: (Score:2)
No. Not really, it'll give false positives or negatives because you're only monitoring an arm, you can't tell if someone is in a suffocating position.
The better question is why not use a night vision camera? I've seen kids build these for science fair projects as baby/elderly monitors (I suppose to be used at home or in the hospital) for under $50 (for example using a cheap Melexis 32x24 IR thermography array, night vision pi camera, and raspberry pi plus open source AI and photoplethysmography code). I've
Re: (Score:2)
If the RF signals could also be used to extend the WiFi signals in my house, I would say they have a winner on their hands.
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My sleeping position (Score:1)
Re: My sleeping position (Score:1)
You necrophile or something? :D
Sleeping positions - yeah, right (Score:2)
I can see private detectives installing these in hotel rooms when gathering evidence in divorce cases.
Oh great (Score:2)
Even the medical industry is getting in on âoethe cloudâ. If thereâ(TM)s *one* thing I donâ(TM)t want being processed on someone elseâ(TM)s computer, itâ(TM)s my medical info. The device itself sounds like a great idea, but these companies need to ship them with a neural network processing chip built in to do the work.
Hmmm (Score:1)
Re: Hmmm (Score:1)
Well, the kind conspiracy theorists that see conspiracy theorists everywhere (lurking in the shadows, hiding under the bed), like *you*, already seem to jump on it, to give their current pet hallucination, 5G nutters, that they turned into a thing in the first place, even more spotlight. :P
Re: Hmmm (Score:1)
"... to the cloud" (Score:1)
WTF! What is wrong with you??
Seriously, are you even still human?
Install these ... (Score:2)
Turgid -vs- Limp (Score:2)
Faraday cage (Score:2)
Probably won't work on those, who sleep in a Faraday cage.