Hsu et . al , CSAIL [ PDF ]

The way that a person walks can contain significant selective information about their health . In 2011 , a University of Pittsburghstudyfound that take the air speeds could predict life expectancy . Now , MIT researcher have found an easy way to monitor how fast people are walking at home , asThe Vergereports .

The MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory ( CSAIL)—which has previously debuted technology to help peoplelearnlanguagesand evaluatetheir selfies — is working on a wall - mounted sensor that can cut across people ’s movements via radio set signals . WiGait sends out depleted - radiation signals that reflect off a person ’s body as they take the air through the room , then compute how fast that somebody is act base on how the sign come back . It ’s 95 to 99 percent accurate at measuring mass ’s walk speed and stride length , according to MIT . The squad behind the machine take it is more exact than tracker like FitBit , which do n’t mensurate speed or stride length , just footstep numbers . WiGait can recognize the movements of up to four dissimilar people in a way and lick at distance of up to 40 foot , including through walls .

Hsu et. al, CSAIL [PDF]

The technology could be used to study sometime people ’s walking focal ratio at home to examine their health without requiring them to wear an intrusive wristband or other wearable gadget . Walking speed can be an index of a person ’s risks for next falls and hospitalizations , and WiGait could be used to monitor patients with a high risk of fall or cognitive decline , especially in assisted - bread and butter dwelling .

The CSAIL research [ PDF ] essay out WiGait in 14 different home base , and discover that user tend to forget it was there after a few 24-hour interval , and preferred it to the estimate of set up a camera - based monitoring gadget in their home . Most people do n’t require to be recorded 24/7 , but radio signals that only know movement might be a more acceptable way to collect data on mass ’s gait speeds at home , where , in the case of older people with modified mobility , they probably spend most of their time .

[ h / tThe Verge ]