Every step says “I’m okay.”
Happy Steps turns the footsteps your parents already take into a kind daily note for the family. No cameras. No microphones. Nothing to wear.
毎日の足音を、家族へのやさしいメッセージに。カメラも、マイクも、身につける機器もいりません。
{"person":"resident_01", "steps":17, "cadence_spm":111, …}~300 bytes leave homeお母さんは今日も元気に歩いています
Mother is walking well today. Her pace is steady, and she rested well last night.
More parents live alone. Families worry from far away.
Japan is the first country to face this at scale. Most of us cannot call every day, and most parents do not want to be watched.
people aged 65+ lived alone in Japan in 2020.
National Institute of Population and Social Security Research
expected to live alone by 2050, one in five households.
IPSS household projection, 2024
older people died alone at home in 2024, many found days later.
National Police Agency, 2025
Today’s options ask too much.
Cameras feel like being watched. Wearables get forgotten or run flat. A help button only works if you can press it.
| Happy Steps | Home camera | Smartwatch | Help button | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nothing to wear or charge | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| No images or sound recorded | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Works if the person cannot ask for help | Yes · impact, then silence | Yes | Only if worn | No |
| Notices slow change over weeks | Yes · personal baseline | Hard to review | Only if worn | No |
| Knows who is walking | Yes · footstep signature | Yes | Yes | No |
One small sensor. Three kind outcomes.
小さなセンサー１つで、３つのやさしさ。
A daily note for the family
Each evening the family gets a short, warm update in plain words: how she walked, how she slept, anything new.
A gentle alert when it matters
A heavy impact followed by silence, or an unusually quiet day, becomes a clear request to check in, with a suggested action.
A friendly voice for her
Gemini speaks a short, cheerful message at home: “You walked well today.” Care that talks to her, not only about her.
“Slower” means slower than her usual days.
Gemini compares today with the resident’s own last two weeks. Small changes in pace, rhythm or night-time walking become early, gentle signals, long before they become emergencies.
- Walking speed and steadiness of rhythm
- Night walks between midnight and 5 a.m.
- Quiet hours with no movement at all
- Visitors, recognised as “not the resident”
今日も元気に歩いています
Usual pace, slept through the night.
夜中に何度か起きていたようです
Up 3 times at night. Usually 0.
いつもより、ゆっくり歩いていました
Pace 95 vs usual 111 steps/min.
様子を確かめてください
Heavy impact at 10:04, no steps since.
From a footstep to a kind word.
The hard signal work happens inside the home. Gemini does the human part.
Feel the floor
A geophone on the floor feels each step as a tiny vibration.
床の振動を感じるRead each step at home
A small edge device finds steps, who is walking, and how.
家の中で一歩ずつ読み取るSend only numbers
About 300 bytes per walk leave the home. Never the raw signal.
数字だけを送るGemini writes and speaks
Gemini compares with her usual days, chooses an action, and writes kindly.
Geminiがやさしく伝えるThe right job for each part.
Gemini is not asked to read raw vibration. A small, proven model at home does that. Gemini does what it is best at: judging change over time, choosing an action, and speaking to people with warmth.
- Long-context reasoning over today plus a 14-day personal baseline
- Function calling that plugs into any app: LINE, email, a care-home dashboard
- Natural Japanese and English for families across borders
- Text-to-speech for a friendly voice in the home
// Gemini must pick exactly one action { "name": "send_family_report", "args": { "status": "gentle_watch", "headline_ja": "夜中に何度か起きていたようです", "headline_en": "She was up a few times at night", "changes": [{ "metric": "walks at night", "today": "4", "usual": "0.2" }], "message_to_resident_ja": "今夜はゆっくり眠れるといいですね。" } }
Not an idea on paper. Years of measured results.
Happy Steps is built on doctoral research in floor-vibration sensing, published in IEEE and Nature-portfolio journals. Lab results:
Every building already has a floor.
Homes
Parents living alone, and families living far away.
Care homes
Quiet night rounds without cameras in private rooms.
Hospitals
Early signs of change in walking during recovery.
Disasters
After an earthquake, which rooms still have people moving.
See a real footstep become a kind word.
The live demo runs real floor recordings through the full pipeline and calls Gemini in your browser.