Development of an image processing support system based on fluorescent dye to prevent elderly people with dementia from wandering.

The wandering of elderly people with dementia is a significant behavioral problem and is a heavy burden on caregivers in residential and nursing homes. Thus, warning systems have been developed to prevent elderly people with dementia from leaving the premises. Some of these systems use radio waves. However, systems based on radio waves present several practical problems. For instance, the transmitter must be carried and may become lost; in addition, the battery of the transmitter must be changed. To solve these problems, we developed a support system that prevents elderly people with dementia from wandering. The system employs image processing technology based on fluorescent dye. The composition of the support system can be described as follows: fluorescent dye is painted in a simple shape on the clothes of an elderly person. The fluorescent color becomes visible by irradiation with a long wavelength of ultraviolet light. In the present paper, the relationship between the color of the dye and the cloth was investigated. A 3D video camera was used to acquire a 3D image and detect the simple shape. As a preliminary experiment, 3 colors (red, green and blue) of fluorescent dye were applied to cloths of 9 different colors. All fluorescent colors were detected on 6 of the cloths, but red and blue dye could not be detected on the other 3 cloths. In contrast, green dye was detectable on all 9 of the cloths. Additionally, we determined whether green dye could be detected in an actual environment. A rectangular shaped patch of green fluorescent dye was painted on the shoulder area of a subject, from the scapula to the clavicle. As a result, the green dye was detected on all 9 different colored cloths.