Privacy-Preserving Bathroom Monitoring for Elderly Emergencies Using PIR and LiDAR Sensors

TL;DR

This paper introduces a low-cost, privacy-preserving bathroom monitoring system using PIR and LiDAR sensors to detect elderly emergencies like falls, ensuring privacy and prompt response in real-world settings.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel non-visual sensor-based system combining PIR and LiDAR for elderly emergency detection in bathrooms, validated through real-world experiments.

Findings

Effective detection of emergency scenarios like falls and inactivity.

Maintains privacy by avoiding visual sensors.

Validated with five real-world experiments.

Abstract

In-home elderly monitoring requires systems that can detect emergency events - such as falls or prolonged inactivity - while preserving privacy and requiring no user input. These systems must be embedded into the surrounding environment, capable of capturing activity, and responding promptly. This paper presents a low-cost, privacy-preserving solution using Passive Infrared (PIR) and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensors to track entries, sitting, exits, and emergency scenarios within a home bathroom setting. We developed and evaluated a rule-based detection system through five real-world experiments simulating elderly behavior. Annotated time-series graphs demonstrate the system's ability to detect dangerous states, such as motionless collapses, while maintaining privacy through non-visual sensing.