Pervasive sensors to tackle obesity and problems of ageing

The collaboration will do this through data-fusion and pattern-recognition from a common platform of non-medical/environmental sensors.

Dubbed SPHERE (Sensor Platform for HEalthcare in a Residential Environment), the project has received £12m in EPSRC funding and includes researchers from the Universities of Bristol, Reading and Southampton, plus partners from Bristol City Council, IBM, Toshiba and Knowle West Media Centre (KWMC).

Project leader Prof Ian Craddock from Bristol University’s Faculty of Engineering told The Engineer that the UK faces a series of health challenges, two of which include obesity and an ageing population.

The UK is Western Europe’s most obese nation and Craddock explained that one factor making an impact on this problem is the combination of sedentary lifestyles and the availability of highly calorific food that can be prepared and eaten very quickly.

The ageing issue also has numerous health implications including managing dementia, Parkinsons disease and stokes.

With the obesity scenario, technology developed through SPHERE would help individuals modify their behaviour via prompts from devices including tablet, mobile ‘phone or flatscreen TV.  In more urgent situations, such as dealing with someone who might have suffered an overnight stroke, SPHERE technology would directly alert healthcare professionals.