- Cameras installed in the ceiling automatically identify and record the posture of children during nap time.
- No need to prepare sensors for noontime checks, no need to change batteries or other labor-intensive tasks
- Image analysis and AI technology developed in the medical field dramatically improves the accuracy of nocturnal sleep checks.
Babymoni," introduced here, is a noon-sleep check system that uses a camera installed in the ceiling to detect dangerous postures of infants and toddlers in the middle of a nap. The system supports childcare workers in their work of checking for nap time without the need to install mats with built-in sensors or attach some kind of device to the children's clothes every time they fall asleep. This product won the BabyTech® Award Japan 2020 in the safety measures and monitoring category. The BabyTech.jp editorial staff interviewed Mr. Satoru Urakami of EMC Healthcare Corporation, the developer of BabyMoni, to learn more about the product, its development process, and future development.
(We spoke to...)
EMC Healthcare Corporation board member
Satoru Urakami
Reduces labor for checking nocturnal sleep in childcare and supports the work of childcare workers.
Editorial:Thank you very much for your time today. Can you give us a quick overview of Babymoni?
Urakami:Let me begin by giving you some background on the introduction of the Noon Sleep Check System. In fact, it is said that 70% of fatal accidents in childcare facilities occur during sleep. This is related to what is known as "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)," but there is no clear medical cause for this. However, there is data that it is more likely to occur when infants are "sleeping on their stomachs," so under the guidance of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and others, "nap checks" (breath checks) are conducted at daycare facilities to check the posture of infants while they are sleeping in the afternoon.
Editorial:You have a childcare worker who checks and records posture and breathing every five minutes.
Urakami:Yes, it is. Normally, childcare workers would like to use the time during a nap to prepare for the next session or to spend more time observing the children's sleeping conditions. However, if they had to check each child's posture and breathing every five minutes and fill out a form on paper, they would be faced with an endless stream of paperwork. BabyMoni is a product designed to solve this problem with the power of ICT.
Solves the disadvantages of the "Noon Sleep Check System" identified in the field of childcare!
Urakami:Specifically, the AI analyzes images taken by a camera installed in the ceiling to automatically fill in the infant's posture on a nap check sheet. Of course, if the system detects prone sleeping, it will also issue an alarm (alert).
Editorial:Thank you. I have in the past covered other companies' products that similarly support nocturnal sleep checks, but in what ways is BabyMoni different?
Urakami:According to comments from childcare facilities that have already introduced the system, there are two main features of BabyMoni. First, when some kind of device is attached to each child, the purpose is to reduce the workload of the childcare staff, but it requires new management efforts, such as "this device is for son A and this one is for son B (......)." In addition, the device must be attached to dozens of children before naptime and then removed when they wake up. In addition, they have to attach these devices to dozens of children before their naps, and then remove them when they wake up. That's a lot of work, we were told. In addition, the batteries in the devices run out after about a month, so they have to be replaced, and there have also been cases of confusion, such as when the battery ran out when the device was about to be installed, and the battery was replaced in a hurry at .......
In addition, the method of placing a mat under a sleeping child makes it difficult to prepare as many mats as the number of children before bed, and to put them all away again after the child goes to sleep. The mats cannot be folded up, so they have a hard time finding a place to store them.
Editorial:That sounds like a lot of work. ......
Urakami:Babymoni can be used simply by mounting the camera on the ceiling and providing a tablet device. The first and foremost feature of Babymoni is its simplicity, which eliminates any hassle of routine work or battery replacement.
Editorial:I thought mat or device type was the most common type of noontime check system, but this may be very advantageous for the camera type.
Urakami:In terms of accuracy, camera-based systems such as BabyMoni are also superior. For example, a mat-type device that detects a child's posture by pressure can detect whether the child is sleeping on his/her right side or left side. A device attached to children's clothing also cannot detect a "prone sleeping" posture, in which the body is on the side but the face is face down. In addition, the sagging of the clothing may cause the device to detect a different posture from the actual one. Furthermore, if the device is installed upside down, it cannot detect the correct posture. Because BabyMoni uses AI to judge the images captured by the camera, it is able to accurately detect and identify all postures, including up-and-down, left-and-right, face-down, face-up, face-down, and face-up. As a result, we have heard from daycare facilities that used to use other companies' nap check systems that they have experienced fewer false positives and false alerts since BabyMoni was introduced. The problem of false alerts is very serious, and not only does it create the hassle of stopping them and correcting the recorded contents, but it can also lead to a situation where the alerts are ignored, as in the old tale of "the boy who cried wolf.
Editorial:Two features of Babymoni are that it actually "reduces labor" on the part of childcare workers and that it is highly accurate.
Image analysis technology," which has been used in the medical field, is now being utilized in the field of childcare.
Editorial:Can you tell us how you developed Babymoni?
Urakami:Originally, our company specialized in health tech and has contributed to the medical field through various image analysis. It was during this time that we happened to hear about the issue of the "noon sleep check system" in the field of childcare, as I mentioned earlier. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, with whom we had a relationship in the medical field, told us that they were pushing for the spread of the "nap check system," but that it was not spreading very far. Against this background, we thought that this problem could be solved by using our image analysis technology (......), which led us to develop BabyMoni.
Editorial:What were some of the difficulties you encountered?
Urakami:The first step in using AI for image analysis was to collect a large number of images of sleeping children. In fact, there are not many images of sleeping people, including adults as well as children, taken from above. The data used in normal image analysis is taken from the side of the person, so the head is at the top of the image and the feet are at the bottom. However, when a sleeping person is photographed from above, the head does not always lie in the same direction as the camera, so such common sense does not apply. It is common for the head to be at the bottom of the image and the legs at the top. Therefore, it took a lot of time to collect images to improve the accuracy of the AI. For this, we looked for childcare facilities that agreed with the concept and vision of BabyMoni, obtained permission from the parents, and installed the cameras.
Editorial:Were there any other difficulties you encountered?
Urakami:Since we had no contacts with childcare facilities, we had a hard time developing sales channels for our products. Currently, we have partnered with "WEL-KIDS" of WEL-KIDS Corporation and "CoDMON" of Codomon Corporation, and these two companies have been very helpful to us. Thanks to these two companies, we are gaining recognition and receiving an increasing number of inquiries.
Childcare facilities that have introduced the system have expressed overwhelming support for it.
Editorial:Please tell us about the number of facilities currently in use and what users have to say about them.
Urakami:Currently, dozens of facilities have introduced the system. In addition, since the summer of 2021, we have received about half a year's worth of inquiries in one month. The most common comments from users are "It's easy," "It's easy," and "It's very helpful because I don't have to clean up or change batteries. We have also received comments such as, "Thanks to Babymoni, I can see my children better when they are sleeping," and "I can concentrate on my work with my children.
In the future, we will also measure the sleep environment to further contribute to the improvement of children's health.
Editorial:Can you tell us about the future development of Babymoni?
Urakami:If the current pace of inquiries continues, it is expected to spread to triple-digit facilities next year. If this happens, the accumulation of data will make it possible to do a variety of things. For example, it may be possible to make proposals that contribute to children's health by analyzing the images, in addition to checking for nap time. We also plan to upgrade the device in October 2021 to be able to measure indoor temperature and humidity. By measuring the sleep environment at the same time, we hope to be able to detect and notify children of signs of poor health.
After the interview
To be honest, until I had the opportunity to interview him, I had been thinking that there were so many brand-name products in the field of nap check systems that no matter what generic products came out, they would never be able to catch up. However, I feel that Babymoni, which was developed based on the "honest opinions" of the people working in childcare facilities, has the potential to explode in popularity. In fact, if I were to work at a childcare facility, I would really appreciate the introduction of a nap check system like this product. I felt that BabyTech is entering an era of "how to utilize AI" in a very obvious way.
Babymoni" Official Website
https://www.babymoni.jp/
