New technologies have been developed to help ensure that older people living alone are safe at home.

people living alone are safe at home.

A medication alert app was revealed by a visitor to the World Artificial Intelligence Conference held in mid-July in Shanghai, China. The app’s developer, 18-year-old Ma Kai from the city, told the Shanghai Morning Post that the app reminded his grandfather to take his medication.

Ma said that his app could also detect the expiration date of a medicine after the user uploaded a photo of the packaging. If a medication was expired, the app would make a loud vocal alert, saying, “The drug has expired. Please do not consume it,” the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

The college-bound Ma said he developed the app so his grandfather, who raised him, could manage on his own when he moved to another city the following month to begin his university studies, according to SCMP.

Meanwhile, a device had been installed in the front doors of more than 100 households in the Kwun Tong public housing estate in Hong Kong.

A project of the Lok Wah South Care Team and the Lions Club of South Kowloon Hong Kong, the smart door sensors were placed to monitor elderly residents living alone.

If no door movement was detected for 48 hours, the system automatically sent text-message alerts to designated emergency contacts and Care Team volunteers, who then called the resident, The Standard (TS) reported.

If there was no answer, the volunteers visited the home, checked with neighbors and referred unresolved cases to the Housing Department, according to TS.

Organizers said the sensors had generated 226 alerts as of 30 June, with no unattended death case recorded, TS reported.

The alerts were later found to have been caused by unexpected hospital admissions or overseas travel or trips by the monitored residents.