Everyone has seen those panic buttons on t.v. however, has anyone ever wondered what happens if the person becomes unconscious and can not press the button. Well it did happen and some students at Northeastern University developed the next generation medical alert bracelet. It is able to detect the acceleration of a fall and able to distinguish it from other activities like a high five using its accelerometer. It also has microcontroller, a zigbee chip, custom pulse oximeter and integrated them into a single point fall detection system with biometric sensing. This capability is essential in whether someone could be saved or end up dead depending on the condition. Ultimately affecting the biggest medical outcome...LIFE!
http://medgadget.com/2010/04/college_students_invent_nextgeneration_medical_alert_bracelet.html
This is pretty awesome! I've always thought about what would happen if someone fell and couldnt reach the phone or was too hurt to even push the button on the alert bracelet to notify help. This is a perfect invention for elderly patients living on their own. However, I don't really get how it's going to differentiate between a high five and a fall... but then again, how often do we see old people high five?
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