A Personal Status Monitor for the Home

The purpose of this Phase II SBIR is to develop a portable and completely wireless system that detects, processes, and analyzes muscle activity for remotely monitoring the functional status of an individual. The Personal Status Monitor (PSM) will remotely monitor the use of muscles during the exertion of motor tasks in a continuous and unobstructed fashion. Through pattern recognition of surface electromyographic (EMG) signals, the PSM will provide the caregiver with an objective parametric measure of how physically active their patient has been, such as walling, sitting, personal care, and feeding. The PSM will consist of three components: 1) four wireless EMG sensors, 2) a body worn transceiver (Repeater), and 3) the Base Station, which processes the signals for pattern recognition and feature extraction. The information can be sent to a remote location via telephone lines or the Internet. The specific aims of this program for Phase II are: Aim 1: To continue with Phase I development of the pattern recognition algorithms in patients with stroke; Aim 2: Design and build a working prototype of the hardware and software for the PSM; and Aim 3: Field test the prototype wireless system among stroke patients in the home environment. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: The MA will primarily augment clinical service by making the line an effective place for rehabilitation. In addition, the PSM will have direct applicability to the field of ergonomics for work-site assessment, or in sports or recreational activities as a feedback device to facilitate training of skilled movements. Numerous other applications in the field of rehabilitation could include monitoring of drug therapies for tremor or other neuromuscular conditions, or home-exercise compliance. The knowledge base and prototypes developed in this project are directly transferable to other acquisition systems for biological signals recorded from the skin, such as EEGs and EKGs.