Two-year, $5.2 m project will apply Australian sensors and AI to aged care delivery

A team that was recently awarded $1.48 million in support through the federal Cooperative Research Centres Projects (CRC-P) program has shared more details about their project, which aims to use Australian-made sensors and artificial intelligence to support better decision-making by aged care professionals.

The two-year project – titled “sensor and data innovation for smart triaging for at-risk Australians” – begins at the start of July and is focussed on developing a solution for prioritising health care delivery. Its total budget is $5.21 million.

Bill Dimopoulos, CEO of project lead Vlepis, said it would make use of “low-cost, unobtrusive wearable sensors that will actively monitor the users’ wellbeing biomarkers such as heart rate, blood oxygenation and temperature.” 

“Data science and new Australian-manufactured sensing technologies” would be applied to “automatically identify health and wellbeing events” said Dimopoulos.

The team involves SMEs Vlepis, CARETEQ, Allambie Heights, Great Communities and Machinery Forum, as well as researchers from University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), according to a statement on Tuesday from the NSW Smart Sensing Network (NSSN). NSSN is also a part of the project.

“Vlepis participated in the NSSN Ageing Grand Challenge Forum last year and saw strong benefits via industry collaboration and participation,” explained NSSN’s Co-Director, Professor Julien Epps.

“The workshops revealed a real commitment from the participants to support and solve real-world problems.” 

Distinguished Professor Fang Chen, the Executive Director of UTS Data Science Institute, said that real-life data would be used for optimal detection and triage. 

“It has a clear target of improving the well-being of at-risk Australians and reducing hospital admissions, saving lives and improving access to care in remote communities,” said Chen. 

“Meanwhile, the collaboration will grow Australia’s sovereign manufacturing capability and directly addresses care providers’ compliance risk through ongoing health and wellbeing monitoring.” 

The project was awarded funding through round 12 of the CRC-P, announced on March 24.

Picture: www.nssn.org.au

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