A researchers of MIT has developed a device that can monitor people’s sleep postures without using cameras or to stick sensors on their body. It’s a wall-mounted monitor the team that records BodyCompass, and it works by analyzing radio signals as they bounce off objects in a room. A device that can monitor sleep postures has many potential uses. It can track the progression of Parkinson’s disease, for instance, since people with the condition lose their ability to turn over in bed.
The team trained their creation’s neural network and tested its accuracy by gathering 200 hours of sleep data from 26 subjects who had to wear sensors on their chest and belly in the beginning. They said that after training the device on a week’s worth of data, it predicted the subject’s correct body posture 94 percent of the time.
In the future, BodyCompass could be paired with other devices to prod sleepers to change positions, such as smart mattresses. When that happens, the device could alert people with epilepsy if they’ve taken a potentially fatal sleeping position, reduce sleep apnea events, and notify caregivers to move immobile patients at risk of developing bedsores. It could also help everyone else get a good night’s sleep because we all need it.
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