A Hi-tech Walking Stick

German scientists have developed an intelligent walking stick that calls an ambulance if the owner falls over. Before the i-Stick tells the ambulance that "Eugena has fallen and can't get up." it plays a message telling the owner to get up. Then after an appropriate amount of time (hopefully not too short--you want to give the owner--an elderly person usually--enough time to pick up the i-Stick.) the i-Stick calls an ambulance or someone for assistance.

On the surface this sounds like a good idea, but then again I am foreseeing some potential problems. First, is it really necessary for the i-Stick to annoy the owner with a message telling him/her to get up? If the owner is conscious I would think he would try get up on his own. If the owner is unconscious or if her hearing aids has fallen out she is not going to hear that message. I suppose the manufacturer can blast the message really loud so the owner can hear it, but then again you don't want the i-Stick to blast the message that all the time. Also, if the owner is seriously hurt let's say with broken bones, do you really want the i-Stick to tell the owner to get up? I don't think that would be a good idea.

Second, what if the owner lays down and takes a nap or just goes to sleep? The owner lets go of the i-Stick and it falls over. While the owner is having a nice nap, the i-Stick waits a while for the owner to pick it up then it plays the "get up" message and scares the crap out of the owner. Can you say possible heart attack? As far as I know and I actually tried to check on this, the i-Stick does not have an on/off switch. I suppose the owner can hook the i-Stick on something so it stands vertically before he takes his nap. It would still be nice to have the option to turn it off though. Hopefully, the scientists will add the on/off switch and make the i-Stick so it does not turn itself off by accident when it falls over. That would not be good if that happened.

A much better idea is to scrap the "get up" message, and have the i-Stick have a button on it that the owner can press to get in contact with help--you know like the Lifeline® medical alert button.