Remote monitoring of daily activities and behaviors at home

In maintaining the health of people, both elderly and younger, it can be useful to monitor their health status through their daily routines in their own home. This paper reports on the remote monitoring of the daily routine behaviors in an ordinary house. We attempted to monitor the daily behaviors of a subject, mainly in the kitchen and dining room. Several sensors were installed, including infrared sensors to detect human movement, magnetic switches to detect the opening and closing of doors, a carbon dioxide sensor to detect presence of the subject, and temperature sensors at the kitchen sink to detect cooking. A 31-year-old man who lived alone was monitored for about three months. The output of sensors was recorded on a personal computer and the data were transferred to another site by the Internet. Monitoring was performed fully automatically. As a result, daily habits could be clearly identified. Such monitoring can contribute to the maintenance of health.