Virtual Booth

The increasing elderly population has raised serious concerns related to personal safety, mobility, and independent daily activities, as aging is often accompanied by reduced balance, slower movement, and weaker physical strength. Falls and collisions are among the most common and dangerous accidents faced by elderly individuals, frequently resulting in serious injuries, long recovery periods, and loss of independence. Although walking sticks are widely used to support balance and mobility, conventional walking sticks function only as passive assistive devices and lack intelligent features such as obstacle detection, fall monitoring, and emergency alert systems, which limits their effectiveness in ensuring user safety. Therefore, this mini project aims to design and develop an Intelligent IoT-Based Walking Stick to enhance elderly safety through real-time monitoring and automated emergency alerts. The proposed system integrates an ultrasonic sensor for obstacle detection, an IMU sensor for fall detection, and a GPS module for continuous location tracking, with an Arduino Uno (ATMega328) acting as the main controller. To enable Internet of Things (IoT) functionality, an ESP32 module is used to provide WiFi connectivity, allowing sensor data and emergency alerts to be transmitted to remote monitoring platforms such as the Blynk application and Telegram. Local alert mechanisms, including an LED, buzzer, and vibration motor, provide immediate visual, audible, and tactile warnings to the user, while priority-based logic ensures that fall detection overrides obstacle alerts during emergency situations. The developed intelligent walking stick improves user awareness, supports independent mobility, and enables faster response by caregivers or family members through remote monitoring. In conclusion, this project demonstrates that the integration of embedded systems and IoT technology into a walking aid can offer a practical, low-cost, and effective solution to improve elderly safety and independence.

Keywords: Intelligent Walking Stick, Elderly Safety Monitoring, Internet of Things (IoT), Fall Detection, Embedded Systems