New technology allows seniors to remain at home longer

Many seniors want to stay in their homes as long as they can rather than go to an old folks or nursing home. New technology helps to make this happen while ensuring that the health and safety of the elderly is not compromised.

A new startup based in Cincinnati, TruSense provides technology that enables the elderly to stay safely in their own homes longer. The company uses smart home technology to help seniors, including motion sensors, temperature monitoring, leak detection, and even voice controls. The company offers a do-it-yourself kit of connected products along with a monitoring service and an app that enables family to keep track of the habits of their aging parents so that they will know if something unusual and dangerous may be happening.

TruSense does not have hardware of its own but depends upon SmartThings for its motion sensors and hub, and Amazon Echo Dot for its voice control. The two hundred dollar U.S. starter kit contains the following: six motion sensors; two contact or door/window sensors; a visitor sensor: a smart outlet; a hub; and an Amazon Echo Dot. You can add to the kit items such as a GPS tracker, a leak detector and a pendant or vehicle tracker.

As a result of all this technology, the TruSense app is able to track which room residents are in, and be able to chart their activity over time. The door or window sensors could be put on your fridge or kitchen cabinet to keep track of their eating habits. A motion sensor will allow the user to know when the occupants are sleeping or getting up in the morning.

TruSense charges $50 per month for its monitoring service. Customers are able to customize which notifications to receive. The Amazon Echo Dot, a speaker that one can control with you voice, can be used by house occupants to call the monitoring service for help.

While the monitoring fee is higher than some other plans, it is on a par with those of others offered by ADT and AT&T. Perhaps some elderly parents will want to place some controls over how much their concerned children monitor them. The appended video shows another device that can help monitor elderly parents.