Mitsuko and Setsuko's Story

From Capsil Wiki

Setsuko pulled into her driveway at this moment. She had driven Mitsuko, her older sister, to the train station after visit. Although Mitsuko still remained very busy at 70 years of age, she always made time to regularly visit the family home. Setsuko, five years younger than her, had moved back to the family home some years ago to be closer to their mother when their father had passed away. Mitsuko wanted to bring her out to Tokyo, where the sisters were living at the time, but she insisted she’d never feel comfortable being away from the home she’d loved so much.

Setsuko tapped the “Park” button on the dashboard, which switched on the automated parking system. The system automatically aligned the car and began the procedures to un-dock her smart wheelchair from the car. She could have steered herself, but she decided to write a quick email to Mitsuko, and so she allowed the system to automatically steer her all the way inside her home. She was greeted by her support robot. She affectionately called him Enjo-chan. Enjo-chan usually waited in his charging station in the kitchen, but when she pulled into the driveway, the system notified Enjo she was home. Enjo told her there were two video notes on the system, and she asked Enjo to play them on the kitchen display. The first was her weekly check-in from her doctor. He said her vitals looked good so he’d just leave a message. She thought she wouldn’t bother to call him back, as she was feeling fine. The second message was from her daughter Rika, apologizing for not being able to come home along with her aunt Mitsuko. Setsuko told Enjo she wanted to call her. Normally they would video chat, but she didn’t answer on her home phone and so Enjo automatically dialed her mobile phone instead. They talked for a few moments about Mitsuko’s visit, and Rika mentioned she had received a message from Setsuko’s doctor saying she hadn’t answered her weekly call. Setsuko assured her she was fine, and insisted that Rika go and visit Mitsuko soon, both living in Tokyo, which she agreed was a good idea.

Mitsuko was dozing on her train ride home but was roused by her phone vibrating to remind her to get off at the next stop. As she exited the station, there was another vibration as she turned right to go up the hill, instead of left, down towards her condominium. She wanted to stop by the market, so she canceled the notification. At the market she saw some sweets that looked tasty, but she scanned them with her mobile phone first to be sure they met her diet limitations. The system, which was tied into the main system running in her home, helped her manage her type 2 diabetes and hypertension by not only checking her purchases for her, but also by monitoring her food intake at home.

This was all made possible because last year her condominium had been remodeled to incorporate the Japanese version of the Living Independently with Functional Technology (LIFT) system. The new system added a variety of beneficial features that made it possible for her to continue living independently in Tokyo. As she entered her condominium, the system notified her she had a message. It was from her niece Rika, asking if she could come over sometime during the week. She was always happy to have her niece come over. It had been a while, but she sometimes came with her children, it was always fun to have them over. After sending a response, the main screen in her living room showed a notification that the system had ordered the refill of her medications. She used the screen to start warming her bath and sat on the couch to watch the news while she waited.

Setsuko too was about to enter her bath. Enjo stood by waiting for her command. She asked "Would you help me in the tub Enjo-chan?", and Enjo maneuvered himself into position to prop her up. She was always amazed at how his arms would move softly if she pushed them, but would immediately stiffen if she started to fall. After a relaxing dip in the bath, Enjo helped her to the seat so that she could dry herself and then back into her chair. The LIFT system calculated it would be best for her to sleep soon and, via Enjo, notified her as such. Setsuko decided to just grab the book Mitsuko had lent her from the kitchen and then moved on to her bedroom. She didn't see Enjo around, perhaps he had gone to the kitchen for her medicines, and so she attempted to climb into bed herself. However, she lost her grip as she was doing so and slipped to the floor. Before she even had time to realize she had fallen, the pressure sensors arranged around her bed detected a possible fall. Immediately the system began a series of commands, starting with summoning Enjo to the bedroom. The system also connected to the health support center and passed partial control of Enjo to the support center staffer. As he entered the room not Enjo's voice, but that of the support center staffer, asked if she had fallen. Had she not answered, an ambulance would have immediately been dispatched, but Setsuko called out she felt fine, she had simply slid to the floor. Enjo chimed in stating that the post-analysis of the pressure sensor data showed she had not impacted with enough force to have injured herself. Setsuko restated she had simply slid onto the floor and not fallen. The support center was contented after reconfirming the data from the system and seeing Setsuko moving normally via Enjo's cameras. As a precaution her file was flagged so that her physician could follow-up on it the following day. After assurances she was fine, the support center staff said goodnight and Enjo helped Setsuko up into the bed. Enjo asked she would like to call her daughter, but Setsuko insisted there was no need. Enjo gave her her nightly medicines and went into standby mode while she read a bit. Once Enjo detected via the sensors in the bed that she had fallen asleep, Enjo picked up the book and placed it on the nightstand before returning to his charging station in the kitchen.

The following morning, the system LIFT began the steps to awaken Mitsuko. After assessing traffic conditions, the system checked her sleep pattern via the in-bed sensors. The system determined it was a good time to awaken her. She maintained a position as an adviser at the magazine where she had always worked. She didn't have to go everyday, but she enjoyed working with the young people, a chance to mold the future of the business. She arose gently to the sounds of her favorite singer. After using the restroom, she checked the results of her urine glucose. "Still doing fine." she thought. The system also notified it her it would be a little chilly, and advises her to dress warmly. There also seemed to be a notification that Setsuko had had a minor fall. She asked the system to connect her. Likewise, Setsuko was rising as well, and by this time Enjo was already helping her clear the table. Her cell phone in the living room started to ring, and Enjo offered to connect via his display. Mitsuko's face popped up on Enjo's chest. Setsuko assured her she had just had a minor slip and was fine. Her doctor had even made a follow-up call that morning, and said she should be fine. They spoke for a bit about Rika visiting soon, but Setsuko had to cut it short because she had a painting class at the community center. They said their goodbyes and Enjo finished clearing the table while Setsuko made her way toward the door.

At work, Mitsuko was asked to review the proposals for a section of the web-based section of the magazine that featured young aspiring photographers. Working with her was a younger lady that had worked under Mitsuko when she was a section chief. They decided to have lunch together as well, as they had not seen one-another some time. Just before lunch, Mitsuko checked her glucose levels using the sensor on her cell phone. Her former subordinate was amazed; cell phones really could do anything these days she said. The results were good and the system automatically updated the main system back at her condominium. After lunch, Mitsuko decided to do a little light shopping before heading home. She stopped by a cake shop to pick up a little something for Rika's visit. Setsuko was just packing up her painting materials when her cell phone rang. Mitsuko had sent her photos of two cakes, asking which Rika would like better. Setsuko joked to her friends in the painting class; her sister who had such a great head for the magazine business couldn't pick a cake. After suggesting the second cake, Setsuko and her friends made their way to the park next to community center to eat the boxed lunches they had brought.

Later that evening, Rika got two emails confirming both her mother and aunt had reached home safely. She didn't think it was necessary to check on them constantly, but it was nice to be able to find them when needed. Like the time her mother's car got a flat tire, she was able to give the roadside service staff her GPS information. Or the time Mitsuko called her out of the blue to meet for lunch. Following the GPD signal of her cell phone, she found her so quickly. And tonight, knowing her aunt had arrived home, she could head out the door to go visit her.

Gaps

• Automobile auto-pilots or 'park' systems are not commercially available although much research has been performed.
• Enjo-Chan - Personal care robots are still within the domain of research and are not available to general consumers. Companies like Willow Garage [1] are developing open source robots that they hope eventually can be deployed to individual consumers. Also prominent in teh research sphere is Stanford's STAIR robot [2].
• The 'fall' that Setsuko experienced can technically be picked up by modern pressure sensors and there are commercial devices available (See CAPSIL on Home and Mobile Systems). However the real valuable piece of information here is why Setsuko fell. In the spirit of true proactive healthcare, there should be a full root cause/corrective action investigation perfromed here to ensure it doesnt happen again.
• There are many systems here such as LIFT, traffic analysis, GPS and medication tracker devices that in their own right are all available at the moment. The gap though is in the linking of these units together to form an overall system. Various CAPSILs have refered to the problem of Information Fusion (Home and Mobile Monitoring Systems and Wireless Body Sesnor Networks). Progress is needed on standards, interoperability and information fusion techniques so that currently available technologies and solutions that can be deployed in standalone mode, can be interconnected to form a truly 'proactive' healthcare system.