As demographics of the North American population change, there is a critical need to provide convenience items which can improve the safety and functioning of the elderly. There is a rising rash of incidents where elderly citizens have been injured or have put themselves at risk, because they are not able to recollect/ retrieve items necessary for their day-to-day activities. A growing number of senior citizens and their care providers are becoming aware of the burdens which come with memory loss and the resulting inability to function. This Phase I, SBIR application proposes to develop an audible lost item retrieval product suitable for home consumer applications. Based on incident RF energy, a tiny receiver can emit an audible tone to locate the medical or convenience items. The unit can be inconscpiusly mounted on consumer or medical devices, e.g. prescription glasses, medication containers, keys etc. If misplaced, these items can be polled using remote locating transponders similar to TV remote controls. A prototype unit will be build in Phase I to demonstrate concepts and to develop consumer attributes through field trials. In Phase II, they will develop miniaturization concepts to make this a practical unit for home use.
Thesaurus Terms:aging, assistive device /technology, biomedical equipment development, handicapped aid, memory disorder, method development, nonclinical biomedical equipmentNational Institute on Aging (NIA)
