Sensor-enabled Functional-Mobility Assessment: An Exploratory Investigation

Shadan Golestan, Dillam Jossue Diaz Romero, Eleni Stroulia, Antonio Miguel Cruz, Lili Liu

Abstract: The population of adults aged 65 years and older is expected to double by 2050. Healthcare systems must adapt to in order to manage the care of this increasing population. Older adults with complex care needs require a significant amount of additional support from caregivers. To maintain, and possibly improve, their quality of life, it is ideal that they receive this support while continuing to live in their own homes. Recent advances in sensing technologies offer the ability to recognize and collect multiple different types of data around a person's movement and physical ability. This data can subsequently be analyzed in order to inform a person's functional-mobility assessment. In this paper, we present an exploratory feasibility study around the use of Microsoft Kinect™ and KINVENT's K-FORCE plates for the purpose of assessing balance skills. Our results indicate that the analysis of data streams from these two sensors can effectively lead us towards a portable and adaptable gesture-evaluation system.