Electrical engineers in Germany have developed a 3D-image-processing system that can monitor the daily activities of dementia patients in their homes and remind them of things such as the time to take their pills.
The system also transmits information on their condition to caregivers or relatives.
Dubbed OPDEMIVA, a German acronym for "optimisation of care for dementia sufferers through intelligent behaviour analysis," it will enable people coming down with dementia to live independently at home for as long as possible.
The network of "embedded smart sensors," devised by engineers from the Chemnitz University of Technology's Department of Digital Signal Processing and Circuit Technology, can determine the patient's position, posture and interaction with objects.
There are no cameras, which up to now have been the sticking point for high-tech monitoring of dementia patients. Transmitting images from inside a person's home to an external station would be an encroachment on privacy.
The data collected by the sensors needn't even leave the home, said engineer Julia Richter.
If, for example, the patient doesn't enter the bathroom in the morning or sits for hours in front of the television set, an acoustic signal serves as a reminder to brush one's teeth or get up and move around.
The data can also be sent to caregivers or relatives by smartphone.
"If the patient expressly wishes the transmission of pictures, this is possible as well," noted Richter, who said the purpose of the system was to monitor and analyse all of the patient's daily activities.
"The sensor provides information on whether the people drink enough water, are sufficiently mobile and take care of their personal hygiene."
The German Alzheimer's Society (DAlzG) is in favour of technical assistance systems for dementia sufferers living at home.
"If they're used, though, ethical questions must be considered, and it must be clear that the people want this type of assistance," said managing director Sabine Jansen.
She added that assistance systems certainly couldn't fully replace human contact, however.
The OPDEMIVA research project, supported by the Saxony state government with European Union regional development funds, is currently being tested in a mock-up of a dementia patient's flat at the Chemnitz University of Technology.
The university plans to display the smart sensor system in Hanover in March at CeBIT, the world's largest annual trade show for information and telecommunications technology.
An estimated 44 million people world-wide suffer from dementia, and the number is increasing. DAlzG expects the number of dementia patients in Germany to rise to about 3 million by 2050 because the country's population is ageing and the risk of dementia increases with age.
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