Some help from Big Brother looking after your mother
Engineers at the University of Virginia think there's promise in using motion sensors to monitor the elderly. Since October, their test-site has been an assisted living home in the Twin Cities. Studio apartments are wired with a half-dozen electronic "eyes" (at left) that detect movement in the room, and a heart-rate sensor that sits on the mattress. The readings run to a computer under the bed, then to the University of Virginia where they are analyzed and displayed on a customized web page. We tour a test apartment with Sylvia Graham, residence director at the Homestead at Maplewood. (Jeff Horwich guest-hosts.) Image: MPR Photo/Jeff Horwich