MIT's Bodycompass can track people's sleeping positions , without the use of a camera , using radio signals .
A team of MIT researchers has developed a device that monitors people's sleeping positions using radio frequencies.
It can track people's sleep and posture without the need for cameras or sensors on their bodies. It's a wall-mounted display that the team has dubbed "BodyCompass" and works by analyzing radio frequencies as they bounce off objects in a room.
According to MIT researchers, a device that can track sleep positions has many potential uses. For example, it could be used to monitor the progression of Parkinson's disease, as people with the condition lose the ability to turn in bed.
To distinguish between radio signals bouncing off a body and signals bouncing off random objects in a room, the system focuses on signals bouncing off a person's chest and abdomen. In other words, the parts of the body that move when breathing. It then sends these signals to the cloudso that the BodyCompass system can analyze the user's posture.
The team trained the device's neural network and tested its accuracy, gathering 200 hours of sleep data from 26 people who were required to wear sensors on their chest and abdomen to begin with. They said that after training the device on worth of data , it predicted correct posture 94% of the time.
In the future, BodyCompass could be combined with other devices to prompt sleepers to change positions, such as “smart mattresses.” When that happens, the device could alert people with epilepsy if they’ve adopted a potentially deadly sleeping position, reduce incidents of sleep apnea, and alert caregivers to move immobile patients who are at risk of developing ulcers. It could also help everyone else get a good night’s sleep, because we all need it.
Shichao Yue will present the system at the conference on September 15, but you can read their research [PDF] on the MIT website.
