Latest Technology to Support the Elderly in Snowy Regions: Types and Selection Guide for Monitoring Sensors

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Winter challenges faced by the elderly

When living in snowy regions in winter, shoveling snow is a big challenge, especially for elderly people living alone in their homes. The first thing that awaits you on a winter morning is shoveling snow from your front door or in your parking lot. The tough task of constantly carrying heavy snow with a shovel puts a lot of strain on the elderly's bodies.

On days with heavy snowfall, it is difficult to complete snow removal work in one go, and workers may have to repeat the work several times in the morning, afternoon, and evening. This can lead to chronic fatigue and stress, which can often interfere with daily life.

Furthermore, the elderly face another challenge: isolation. If family members live far away, the risk of an emergency increases. If an elderly person falls or becomes ill while alone, they may be left alone for a long time without being noticed by those around them.

This reality is a serious challenge that many seniors and families face every winter, but today we're sharing technology that can help make winters more comfortable and safer.

The latest technology will change life in snowy regions!

To address these issues, solutions that utilize the latest technology are attracting attention.

The first is an autonomous snowblower that uses AI and many sensors. This technology should be able to detect accumulated snow and remove it efficiently with the push of a button. It is easy to operate, greatly reducing the burden and risk of injury that comes with manual labor. In addition, if it can be remotely controlled with a smartphone, it can be used safely from inside the home.

The second is a monitoring solution. Digital technology can be used to detect the activities of elderly people in their daily lives, and that information can be used to incorporate into monitoring solutions.

These two technologies will simultaneously solve the issues faced by elderly people in snowy regions who tend to stay indoors, enabling them to live safe and comfortable winter lives.

1. Autonomous snowblower

Autonomous snow blowers utilize the latest automation technology that is changing the way snow is removed. The sensor automatically detects the amount of snow and starts the snow removal process at the touch of a button. They can remove large amounts of snow that would take a long time to remove manually with astonishing speed.

Furthermore, safety is also taken into consideration. High-performance sensors detect obstacles and people and automatically stop operation if necessary, allowing you to use it with peace of mind.

This autonomous snowblower not only saves you time and energy, but also makes effective use of your time and makes your life more comfortable. Eliminate the effort of shoveling snow, something that you have always taken for granted.

From snow shovels to automatic snow blowers

2. Monitoring solutions

A monitoring sensor is a general term for a sensor that detects a person's presence or absence, movement, posture, and changes in their physical condition, and notifies family members or businesses located far away. The main types are divided into six categories: human presence (infrared), millimeter-wave radar, accelerometer/gyroscope, weight, temperature/humidity/environment, and camera + AI. Each type has its limitations in terms of what it can and cannot detect, and the accuracy varies greatly depending on the installation environment.

With a monitoring solution in place, the elderly person's daily activities can be detected using digital technology, allowing family members living far away to check on their situation in real time via smartphone or PC and respond quickly. For elderly people living alone, the reassurance of knowing "someone is watching over them" is a great source of peace of mind.

The main reason for setbacks in commercializing monitoring products is not a lack of functionality, but rather the need to re-select the appropriate monitoring method. While catalogs describe what each method can do, they don't mention what it cannot do or the conditions under which its accuracy decreases. Here, we compare six methods side-by-side, including the limitations that Macnica discovered through actual evaluation. In particular, in areas where conditions such as snowy regions, outdoor environments, low temperatures, and indoor lifestyles overlap, the suitability of each method becomes very clear.

method	Detectable things	Things that are impossible in principle	weak point	privacy	Ease of installation
Motion detection (infrared)	Passage of people, presence/absence	Posture, whether they are lying down, number of people	The detection range is short (it may not react unless you get close), and it is susceptible to sunlight and heat sources from heating appliances.	High (does not have video)	Easy. Easy to run on batteries.
Millimeter-wave radar	Position, posture (lying down, reclining), slight movements, body vibrations	Personal identification	Reflection from metal surfaces, water splashes, and high humidity. Difficulty separating multiple people.	High (does not have video)	Power supply is required. The installation location and orientation need to be adjusted.
Accelerometer and gyroscope	Falls, subtle changes in movement that indicate a fall	When not being worn	Situations where the device cannot be installed. Battery replacement procedures.	high	It's easy to use, but getting people to wear it regularly is the challenge.
Weight (load)	Changes in the weight of objects or people, the number of times they were placed down or picked up.	Identifying what the placed object is	Vibrating floor. Outdoor installation requires a waterproof enclosure.	high	It's a mat that you simply lay down. Power and network connection are required.
Temperature/humidity/environment	Environmental abnormalities such as room temperature, humidity, and WBGT (heat index)	The movement of people itself	Direct sunlight and directly under the air vent	high	Easy. Easy to run on batteries.
Camera + AI	Analysis of movement, falls, and prolonged periods of immobility.	Dark places and beyond obstacles	Backlighting, dark conditions, dirty lenses	Low (consensus is required because it involves handling video)	Power and network access are required. Computing resources are also needed.

Sensors and IoT (Internet of Things) devices utilizing semiconductor technology play a crucial role. There's no need to limit yourself to just one method. In actual products, a common combination is "detecting occupancy with motion sensors, observing posture with millimeter-wave sensors, and monitoring room temperature with environmental sensors." The important thing is to decide from the beginning which information to collect and which method to use.

Three points where the conditions of a snowy region influence the design.

In snowy regions, monitoring and snow removal are two sides of the same coin. The heavy labor of shoveling snow and the isolation that comes from staying indoors occur simultaneously within the same household. These conditions directly impact the design specifications of the equipment.

① Outdoor use, low temperatures, and waterproofing are prerequisites.

Snow removal equipment and outdoor terminals need to operate in sub-zero temperatures and snowy conditions. There is already a proven track record of outdoor operation in the market. For example, another company's unmanned autonomous snow removal machine was confirmed to operate in sub-zero temperatures and snowy conditions in Hokkaido from December 2023 to March 2024, and an automated snow removal demonstration experiment was conducted at New Chitose Airport in February 2025. RTK-GNSS is used for centimeter-level positioning.

Technically, it's within the realm of feasibility. The focus from the design side has shifted from "will it work?" to how to make the enclosure, power supply, and communication functions work under cold climate conditions.

② As the flow of daily life shrinks, the detection points change.

When you tend to stay indoors during the winter, the distance you move around inside the house decreases. Changes such as "opening and closing the front door less often" or "walking down hallways less often" occur due to seasonal factors rather than a deterioration in health, so your normal baseline becomes different in summer and winter.

If the threshold for detecting anomalies is fixed annually, false notifications will increase in winter, or conversely, genuine anomalies will be missed. The software requirements need to be designed from the outset to switch baselines seasonally.

③ Areas where snowplows do not reach are within the scope of self-help.

Municipal snowplows have deployment criteria. In Aomori City, snowplows are deployed when snowfall exceeds 10 cm on main roads such as busy bus routes, and when snowfall exceeds 15 cm on residential roads and other local roads, and when it is deemed difficult to maintain traffic (criteria vary by municipality).

In other words, snow removal may not be completed in time for commuting hours in the back of residential areas, and this remains a matter of self-reliance. This is the market for autonomous snowplows and small snow removal equipment. Quantitatively defining the areas where public snow removal services do not reach can be used to estimate the number of units needed.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1. Which type of monitoring sensor should I choose?

It depends on "what you want to detect." For presence/absence, a human motion sensor is used; for posture or whether someone is fallen, a millimeter-wave radar is used; for the moment of a fall, an accelerometer/gyroscope is used; for increase or decrease in the number of objects, a weight sensor is used; and for room temperature or heat index, an environmental sensor is the basic choice. It is common to combine different methods rather than sticking to just one. Since accuracy varies depending on the installation environment, it is recommended to narrow down the candidates to two and then perform actual equipment evaluations.

Q2. Can falls be detected without using a camera?

Yes, it's possible. Wearable devices incorporating accelerometers and gyroscopes can detect falls and subtle changes in movement that may indicate a fall. If you want to monitor posture without wearing a device, millimeter-wave radar is an option, but you should first check the constraints of the installation environment. Neither method produces images, so they are suitable for locations where privacy is a concern.

Q3. How much does it cost to develop a monitoring system?

While costs vary depending on the configuration, there are certain areas where expenses tend to increase. These are: waterproof enclosures for outdoor or wet environments (in one project, 25% of the total cost was for the additional waterproof case), software development including notifications and cloud integration, and power-saving measures for battery operation. Deciding whether to make it waterproof, battery-powered, and the extent of notification features during the planning stage will improve the accuracy of the estimate.

Q4. How do equipment designed for use in cold climates differ from standard designs?

Three aspects will change: the enclosure, power supply, and communication. A enclosure that can withstand sub-zero temperatures and snow accumulation, a power supply design that accounts for battery capacity reduction at low temperatures, and a means of outdoor communication are all necessary. Additionally, on the software side, since people tend to move less indoors in winter, it's recommended to include a requirement for designing the abnormality detection threshold to change seasonally.

Enriching the lives of the elderly with comfort and peace of mind

Autonomous snow removal and monitoring solutions offer a promising solution to the challenges of burden and isolation that could not be fully addressed by traditional methods.

The time and energy you would have spent shoveling snow can now be used for other things, such as enjoying your hobbies or spending time with your pets. For family members who live far away, it's the best option to ensure that grandparents have a safe and comfortable winter.

These next-generation solutions are not just convenient tools, but are "reliable partners" that protect and support the lives of the elderly. Even elderly people living alone no longer need to fear winter. Why not take the first step towards a new winter lifestyle?

Elderly people spending time relaxing with their pets

lastly

If you are interested in the autonomous snow removal machines and monitoring solutions introduced here, please feel free to contact Macnica Monozukuri Consulting (Monocon®).
* Please note that as this is a service aimed at businesses, we cannot respond to inquiries that do not apply to our services.

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