Classification of Diabetic Walking for Senior Citizens and Personal Home Training System Using Single RGB Camera through Machine Learning

Abstract

Senior citizens have increased plasma glucose and a higher risk of diabetes-related complications than young people. However, it is difficult to diagnose and manage elderly diabetics because there is no clear symptom according to current diagnostic criteria. They also dislike the invasive blood sample test. This study aimed to classify a difference in gait and physical fitness characteristics between senior citizens with and without diabetes for a non-invasive method and propose a machine-learning-based personal home-training system for training abnormal gait motions by oneself. We used a dataset for classification with 200 over 65-year-old elders who walked a flat and straight 15 m route in 3 different walking speed conditions using an inertial measurement unit and physical fitness test. Then, questionnaires for participants were included to identify life patterns. Through results, it was found that there were abnormalities in gait and physical fitness characteristics related to balance ability and walking speed. Using a single RGB camera, the developed training system for improving abnormalities enabled us to correct the exercise posture and speed in real-time. It was discussed that there are risks and errors in the training system based on human pose estimation for future works.