WLBZ Interviews New Media Students About Fall Detection Device
WLBZ (Channel 2) spoke with Benjamin Herold-Porter and Heather Anderson, graduating seniors in the University of Maine’s New Media Department, about a fall detection device they developed for older adults to use outside their homes. For their capstone project, the students created a prototype that can detect when the person wearing the device has fallen and automatically text a programmed cell phone number without requiring user action. “We’ve completely removed that user interaction,” Herold-Porter said. Both Herold-Porter and Anderson have active grandparents in their 80s who have fallen while alone outside their homes. Herold-Porter said his grandmother has a device that’s currently on the market, but rarely presses the button when she falls. “She’s less prone to press it then because she doesn’t want to interrupt anyone’s day or anything like that,” he said. The students said future possibilities for the device include using smaller parts, adding GPS and more functions such as a walk counter, vitals detector or the ability to make phone calls.