PRESENT-DAY PATENT- A PREVIEW

An invention for medication adherence and activity monitoring...

Most applications today are mastered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) that the healthcare industry too fall under its wider hands. One such valuable healthcare system is a wrist-worn device, developed by Dr. McDaniel and Vishnu Prateek Kakaraparthi of the Arizona State University. Called by the name PERACTIV and expanded as “Personalized Activity Monitoring– Ask My Hands”, their system is actually a wrist-mounted suite of sensors—including RGB cameras, microphones and accelerometers to enable two main tasks: (i) Medication adherence to the elderly/memory-challenged people and (ii) Day-to-day activity monitoring. “Medication adherence is not just about sending a notification. It is about understanding what the person actually does and ensuring medication is successfully ingested,” says Kakaraparthi. Moreover, Dr. McDaniel calls the tech involved in PERACTIV as hand-centric computing and says, “Think of it as a wearable personal assistant. Did the user pick the right pill? Did they take it at the right time? Was it followed by a drink of water? These actions are captured from the wrist, giving us a real-time understanding of daily behavior”. The benefits of PERACTIV not ends with contextual understanding, hand interaction tracking or real-time and intelligent feedback providing. Instead, this cognitive aid sets privacy as the top priority by remaining local and allowing the users to share information independently. Refining their technology with real-world feedback from the residents of Mirabella and Senior Rising Homes, the team has planned for commercial deployment, expanded clinical trials, and additional applications in therapy, elder care and training. Inspired by PERACTIV’s success, the team has also extended the same technology into manufacturing through a second platform, called Smart Wrist-based Assembly Recognition and Monitoring System for Small Parts (SWARMS). SWARMS uses the same combination of vision, motion, and audio sensing to monitor how workers perform precision assembly tasks. In fact, “Manufacturing workflows are often difficult to standardize, especially when training new employees. SWARMS offer a seamless way to guide workers through complex procedures, while reducing mistakes”, explains graduate researcher Salsabil Soliman. To conclude, similar chief blends of AI and wearable technologies are most welcome from future inventors, so as to achieve automation with increased autonomy, safety and well-being.