This Wearable "Airbag"​ For The Elderly Could Help Save Their Lives During A Fall

A company in China has designed an inflatable belt that rapidly inflates to protect the person wearing it during a sudden fall to the ground. The belt works similarly to a car's airbag system, making use of a micro-gyroscope that accurately detects the speed and the angle of the fall. A microprocessor then triggers the airbag to inflate within 0.18 seconds.

Created by Suzhou Yidaibao Intelligent Technology, a company with experience in making airbags for cars, the belt is an innovative product aimed specifically for the needs of the rising population of the elderly in China. The country with 1.395 billion people has had a declining population growth with the number of retirees rising fast in recent years.

According to Song Zhangxuan, the deputy manager of the tech company that makes the belt, as reported by Euronews, "there are two main problems" they decided to focus on:

"There are two main problems we focus on," he said. "One is how to judge an older man's posture in real-time, so how to tell when he is about to fall down. The airbag has to pop up before he falls down so he can be protected by the airbag.

"The second is how to deflate the airbag within 0.18 seconds. According to our statistic, an old man falls to the ground in 0.3 seconds, so technically the inflation has to complete in 0.18 seconds."

China's population growth rate continued to slow in 2018, spelling possible trouble ahead as a swelling number of retirees pushes up against a shrinking labour pool. Figures released in January by the National Bureau of Statistics put the population at 1.395 billion in 2018.

Care for the elderly is a rising government concern as the working-age population continues to fall as a percentage of the total.

Song adds: "According to our statistics, China has the biggest elderly population in the world, which is about 200 million. To roughly estimate, if we share 5 percent of the market, that is nearly 10 million, which is a fairly big market for us."

Watch the video below and share your thoughts about it! What other needs of the elderly should we try to look into?