Carrie Assistance System
A smartwatch-based assistance system for the elderly that detects falls and unusual inactivity and alerts emergency contacts.
Falls are a serious danger in the everyday lives of older people: a third of all men and women over 65 fall at least once a year. Often they are injured and unable to call for help themselves, and have to wait for hours until someone finds them. If the fall happens outside in winter, the consequences can be fatal.
Carrie is a smartwatch-based assistance system for the elderly. It detects emergencies such as falls and unusual inactivity and then alerts emergency contacts such as relatives, neighbours or the ambulance service. It can also remind its user to take their medication.
To use Carrie, a person wears a Pebble smartwatch that is connected to a smartphone. The watch is waterproof, has a battery life of several days and is easy to operate with its large physical buttons.
Carrie was developed as part of my master’s project and subsequent master’s thesis at FH JOANNEUM. In May 2016, the project was presented as a finalist in the student competition at the eHealth Summit Austria.