Smart Carpet Detects Your Gait, Knows if You've Fallen
Smart Carpet Knows When You've Been Stepping And falling. Elkona1 via Flickr Packed with smart meters, smart appliances, smart windows and doors, smart lighting, smart HVAC and other smart what-have-you, the smart home of the future is purportedly going to be overflowing with sensors that make life more efficient and convenient. Now, it could be packed with sensors that make sure you're not splayed on the floor alone in the living with a busted hip, unable to reach the phone. A research group at the U.K.‘s University of Manchester has developed smart carpeting that can tell when someone has stumbled or fallen, and even analyze people's gaits for signs of oncoming mobility problems. The carpet is woven with a layer of optical fibers underneath that create a 2-D plane that acts as a pressure map. When someone walks across the carpet, that map distorts. Sensors in the carpet relay these distortions to...