eNeighbor System Wins NIH Grant

By Mark Reilly

NOVEMBER 5, 2004

Red Wing Technologies, Inc. which is developing a monitoring system to safeguard people living alone from falls and other accidents, received a $750,000 grant to continue its work.

The grant, from the National Institutes of Health, will allow Red Wing to finish the design phase on its "electronic concerned neighbor" and prepare a field test for the technology.

The "eNeighbor" system is intended to help watch people who live alone and raise an alert if they get into trouble — a fall, sudden health problem or the like. "Everybody we talk to has a story about an aunt or uncle or neighbor who's elderly or infirm and living alone and had some sort of accident," said Brian Bischoff, a principal at Red Wing.

The company's system, developed in partnership with nonprofit Adventium Labs, addresses the problem by installing embedded sensors in a person's home and using computer algorithms to "learn" the inhabitant's behavior. "We studied the ways that people behave during the day, and placed sensors to monitor that," Bischoff said. "The sensors run through a program that looks for breaks in a person's routine."

Such a break may indicate the person went to lunch, or it might mean he or she has fallen down the stairs and needs help. The eNeighbor initiates a series of alerts, trying to contact the person. If that's unsuccessful, it tries to summon help, first from a family member or friend, then from others.

Red Wing, founded by former engineers from Honeywell and Emerson Electric, works with sensor and automation companies to find new markets, said principal Bryan Fuhr.

Red Wing has filed for a patent for the system. It previously received roughly $150,000 in grants from the NIH.