3. First, application to services for healthcare and nursing

Well, tell us more specifically about some applications.

KawaguchiI'd like to talk about healthcare services especially the specific health guidance that has started in Japan these days. If you are diagnosed as having visceral steatosis "Metabolic Syndrome", the specialists support your lifestyle-change for improving high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, and hyperglycemia which causes future diseases. In those cases, health-management data is necessary to be gathered and recorded. We thought a sensor network could be applied for gathering these information. If we used the sensor embedded devices we developed, Body Mass Index (BMI) and body-fat data as one of the standard index for metabolic syndrome are automatically transmitted after each measurement, then stored and managed in our web server. If a specialist, who looked in that data, sends appropriate advices, for example, as a mobile phone email to the user, an operational efficiency will be improved through smooth communication. Since the user is free from managing data, the number of measurements will be increased naturally and the user's motivation will be kept for improving their health.

Figure 5: Services for supporting healthcare

What are services for supporting nursing care?

KawaguchiAn aging society is a society that bed ridden elders are increasing while the number of young people who can provide care is decreasing. So, for example, an automatic urine collector and its pads are used to alleviate the time and manpower of changing diapers to lighten some burden on caregivers. These devices have integrated sensors to detect urination. We focus on these devices and considered that sensor networks are useful, not just to lighten the workload on care givers, but also to improve the quality of nursing care. Sensor embedded automatic urine collector and urine pads collect data such as volume and frequency periodically. That may be helpful to inform caregivers of the timing for emptying a tank and changing a pad by mobile phone email. We will also be able to offer more detailed (personalized) care by analyzing urination patterns to reduce the number of changing diapers and to assist users to be independent without diapers by guiding them to the toilet at the right time.

Figure 6: Services aimed at nursing support