For people confined to their beds, pressure points can become a major health issue. These are called bed sores, pressure ulcers, or the medical term 'decubitus'. By whatever name, this can be chronic, debilitating, intractable, and life-threatening. I will spare you the graphic images here, but if you use your browser to search for "pictures of pressure ulcers", brace yourself. You wonder "How can these poor people live like this?"
As time goes by, scientists and researchers in many diverse fields are realizing the importance of a good night's sleep in overall health and prevention of disease. Yet some studies have shown that adults turn over 42 times per night, on average. Or, about every 11.5 minutes, although we may not come to full consciousness each time.
Here is a link to a YouTube video, very rough, but showing the process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4N0HpAof6k
Deep, restorative sleep is disturbed each time we change position to eliminate the pressure points that develop.
This invention uses small devices called linear actuators to gently move ordinary beds, hospital beds, and infant cradles. The movements are very gentle, and can mimic the gentle, relaxing motion of a boat at anchor. The devices are controlled by a Smartphone.
So pressure points are related to getting a good night's sleep, and especially for people confined to their beds. This then raises another question - Why do babies cry at night for no apparent reason? Could it be that they also are feeling discomfort and pain from pressure points, but, unlike adults, have very limited ability to change their own position? This prompts the parent to pick the baby up and walk the child around, placing the infant back in the crib, resetting the pressure points.
The Power of a good night's sleep - The IoT (Internet of Things) can tell me when the office plants need watering, or when the dog's food bowl is empty, but it hasn't reached our beds, where we spend one-third of our lives.
Until now.
The ones in this demo are low-voltage (12v), and low noise. One Smartphone can control 4 actuators simultaneously. Individuals can store sequences and delays, save sequences, play them back, and share them with others. Each actuator can lift and hold 150 lbs., 600 lbs total. The units shown here have a total travel of 2.0", in increments of 0.25".
​Look For The Power LLC