Smart chips to safeguard elderly
Print Edition
Zhou Juexin, 68, no longer needs to stand on her bed to repeatedly disconnect the air-conditioner to prevent overloading.
A smart chip was installed in Zhou鈥檚 electric meter yesterday.
The chip can collect and analyze her power use, triggering an alert if there is anything abnormal, such as a power overload or a lamp still on for a long time after midnight. Nearby community workers are alerted on the phone and can visit to sort the problem.
鈥淚 cannot quite understand the high technology, but I feel safe now,鈥 Zhou said. 鈥淚 can use an electric blanket in winter with the protection of the high-tech gadget.鈥
Zhou lives alone in Hongkou鈥檚 Ouyang Road Subdistrict, which has one of the city鈥檚 densest aging populations.
Developed by a local tech company Visionet, the smart chip, an 鈥渋ntelligent circuit breaker,鈥 can learn the power-use habits of users based on data in the previous 20 days without consuming additional power.
When overloaded, the system will cut off the circuit automatically to prevent fires.
It will also send warnings when any resident is found charging electric bikes within residential buildings, a common violation likely to cause explosions and fires, according to Visionet.
When the chip was installed for a senior citizen living alone in Tianjin in north China in July, it sent an alert to a community worker when low electricity use was detected. Staff found the elderly person in time.
鈥淭he chip along with a smart senior鈥檚 service system will be promoted across local communities,鈥 said Gu Liting, executive president of Shanghai Visionet Information Technology Co.
Local governments are applying more intelligent technologies to care for the city鈥檚 increasing number of elderly residents. The smart gadgets can ensure the safety of the elderly living alone or the physically challenged, while reducing the burden of community workers.
By the end of 2019, the number of residents 60 years or older in Shanghai stood at 5.2 million, or 35 percent of the city鈥檚 registered population. Some 90 percent are taken care of at home, as the traditional virtue of filial piety means children are reluctant to put their elderly parents in nursing homes.
Across the country, about 118 million senior citizens will be living alone at home by the end of 2020.
A first batch of 10 households have had the chips installed on their meters in a trial operation. The equipment will be promoted across the subdistrict, which has 203 seniors with no relatives and 1,311 seniors over 80 years old who live alone, said Wang Lei, Party secretary of the subdistrict.
鈥淲e aim to develop more digital governance scenarios to offer more delicate caring services for seniors, while protecting their privacy.鈥
In another recent practice, a similar device was installed in the water meter for some seniors living alone in Changning District.
If the meter stops running for 12 hours, the chip will alert the subdistrict automatically. If the amount of water usage is below 0.01 cubic meters in 12 hours, the chip will remind neighborhood committee staff members to pay a visit.
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