Iot based smart wheelchair with wireless health monitoring system for the elderly

ABSTRACT: STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM: One of the major difficulties that senior or elderly people encounter is their incapability to go to places independently. A they age, their movement becomes slow and going from one place to another is somehow hard for them. Some elderlies are not strong enough anymore to be able to stand up on their own, making them become dependent on wheelchairs. These elderly people may also not be capable of manually maneuvering their wheelchairs by themselves, especially on inclined surfaces which require them to exert a greater amount of force. Because of this, an assistant or their guardian is always needed to help them move around the area. During the cases where their guardian is not around, they will surely find it difficult or they may even be unable to go to areas where they needed to be at. Most of the elderly relatives in the researchers families usually need constant monitoring of their vital signs in order to determine their health condition. The need of the elderly for continuous health monitoring requires their personal nurse or any authorized medical personnel to regularly check their vital signs, but it may not be checked as often since the authorized medical personnel might not always be around them all day. This situation can possibly lead to a serious problem. For some cases where the elderly is having serious seizures, heart attack or any emergencies and no one is present to respond to their needs, unattended death could be the worst thing that may actually happen. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: The research design used for this study is applied research, which is a methodology used to solve a specific, practical problem of an individual or group that can be useful in any field. This applied research was used to find effective solutions or ways to lessen the elderlies effort to do things they cannot usually do because of their condition, specifically in terms of their mobility. With this study, the researchers have gathered data and these data were considered in the construction of the algorithm of the line-follower part of the system of the smart wheelchair. This study also enabled the researchers to test and prove the usefulness of the health monitoring system in line with the wheelchair. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: The researchers have interviewed a total of eight respondents, which three male elderlies and five female elderlies. They have rated the smart wheelchair from the efficiency, helpfulness, to its accuracy to go to different areas by means of the line following algorithm. The overall mean value of the ratings of all the researchers’ respondents is 4.150, with 5 as the maximum. With how they have rated the prototype in this study, the project can be considered as acceptable and helpful to them. As the researchers made trials in getting the heartrate from the researchers respondents and comparing the experimental to the theoretical values, the researchers saw that respondents #2, Roberto Mesajon has given the highest percentage error (5.41%) with the results of his trial. In contrast to him, respondent #3, Conchita Celerio gave only a percentage of 1.56%. The difference in temperature values is very minimal and there were cases where there is not even any difference between the values and from the digital thermometer and the temperature sensor on the health monitoring device. CONCLUSIONS: Upon doing this design and considering the results and opinions of the respondents, the proponents have concluded that the prototype is acceptable to the respondents. They became aware of its functionalities and they believe that they are very helpful in monitoring and helping the researchers target users, the elderly. The line following algorithm became very useful for the wheelchair navigation. It was able to move accurately to the desired area or destination without delay. The proponents also conclude that it is advisable to use the health monitoring device. The temperature sensor produces accurate data, and there is little to no difference with the readings from an actual digital thermometer. The heart rates fluctuates whenever there are sudden movements in the arms of the elderly. Thus, the reading is more accurate if the user remains steady. The developed mobile application software was also able to retrieve health parameters from the database and it is able to send notifications to the users if the mobile application. It has user management and security, and it was also able to configure the colors in the line following algorithm for the wheelchair navigation. RECOMMENDATIONS: The researchers have recommendations for other researchers who are interested in doing or enhancing this research project, which may being more positive changes and development to this design. In dealing with errors, some that are already present in the sensors must be taken care of as it is converted or turned into real data. Each data produced shall be evaluated thoroughly by adding specific functions in the microcontroller program aligned with the theoretical behavior of the values. Datasheets of specific sensors are available on the internet and it provides accurate error reading of the sensor. This way, data that will be represented will be more accurate. It is advisable to acquire more information from geriatric medicine doctors in order to know more factors that may affect the health of the elderly patient as they will be using the project. For indicators in the health monitoring system which tells more about the patient’s condition, it is recommended to add levels of danger which are color coded. The values that are sent on the mobile application will indicate the state of danger the patient is in. Additionally, notification image shall vary depending on the danger. In terms of the smart wheelchair, research more about the factors that needs to be considered when using or buying a wheelchair. Indicators on the app may be added, pinpointing where the patient is located inside the house. In terms of the health monitoring, it is possible for the system to work with prepaid plans as long as it is connected to the internet, but it is recommended to connect the system to a postpaid Wi-Fi plan in order to have a continuous and reliable health monitoring. Also, try to create a better filter algorithm to reduce the fluctuations and noise in the sensors. The research done about how to make the blood pressure algorithm in this project can be used on a bigger and wider scale.

Filipiniana