Robust fall detection by combining 3D data and fuzzy logic

Abstract

Falls are a major risk for the elderly and where immediate help is needed. The elderly, especially when suffering from dementia, are not able to react to emergency situations properly, thus falls need to be detected automatically. An overview of different classes of fall detection approaches is presented and a vision-based approach is introduced. We propose the use of a Kinect to obtain 3D data in combination with fuzzy logic for robust fall detection and show that our approach outperforms current state-of-the-art algorithms. Our approach is evaluated on 72 video sequences, containing 40 falls and 32 activities of daily living. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.