A smart jumpsuit for babies can monitor their movement, and may be able to spot any potential mobility issues, allowing early intervention during this critical time window for development.
Sampsa Vanhatalo at the Helsinki Children鈥檚 Hospital in Finland and his colleagues fitted 22 babies ranging in age from about 4 months old to 8 months old with high-tech jumpsuits. The jumpsuits were equipped with four motion sensors that collected acceleration and position data that was relayed to a nearby phone. The infants were also recorded on video, which was later analysed by three human researchers who logged the babies鈥� movements.
An algorithm developed by the team could identify the babies鈥� posture and movement from the jumpsuit data. It matched the observations from the videos 90 per cent of the time for posture and 60 per cent of the time from the video.
Advertisement
Vanhatalo says his team has recently launched a follow-up experiment that is exploring whether the jumpsuit can spot movement delays in a group of 50 infants, half of whom didn鈥檛 receive enough oxygen around their time of birth because of complications, which can increase the risk of developing movement issues.
If the technology succeeds, it could help flag which infants might benefit from early intervention, which includes positioning toys to encourage a child to use a weaker arm.
There are several risk factors that can lead to babies developing movement issues. These include being born prematurely, a lack of oxygen around the time of birth and neonatal strokes. However, only a small fraction of children who have experiences these events have movement issues.
The jumpsuits are machine-washable, says Vanhatalo. 鈥淭hey always stink when they come back from the babies,鈥� he says. But his experience as a parent has strengthened him against this kind of stench, he says. 鈥淚 have six kids at home, so I don鈥檛 notice.鈥�
Reference:
