X-Message-Number: 7502
Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 11:29:44 -0800 (PST)
From: Joseph Strout <>
Subject: slow-motion detector

Ages ago, there was some discussion on this list of the "dying alone"
problem, namely, that a cryonics patient who lives alone might die
suddenly and not be found until too late.  Someone (Mike Darwin, if I
remember correctly) suggested the development of motion sensors which
sound an alarm when no motion is detected within a certain amount of time.
(It was pointed out that live people move in their sleep with fair
regularity.)

Well, I recently got a QuickCam (cheap CCD camera) for my Mac, and wrote a
little script that demonstrates this concept.  It takes an image every
minute, and compares it to the image taken a minute ago.  It works just
fine on normal activity, and though I haven't tried it sleeping yet, I am
fairly confident it could be made to work quite reliably.  It could be
easily modified as needed, and connected to some sort of "alarm" program
(which could, for example, call the cryonics provider and play a recorded
message).

The system requires a Mac (though not a very powerful one) and a QuickCam
(about $90; the color version is not needed).  The software components are
all free, and I could write custom software as needed.  But I won't bother
pursuing this any further unless someone thinks they might actually use
it.  Let me know...

-- Joe

,------------------------------------------------------------------.
|    Joseph J. Strout           Department of Neuroscience, UCSD   |
|               http://www-acs.ucsd.edu/~jstrout/  |
`------------------------------------------------------------------'


Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=7502