Older people living alone have no one to notice a missed day; relatives worry from afar
A 2024 survey cited by The Nation found about 1.8 million older Thais living alone, nearly four times 30 years earlier, with cities especially exposed; researchers suggest alerts based on electricity and water use. A Pantip son who left his nearly 70-year-old mother alone installed CCTV and still worried.
Is this you?
If you run into this every week, tell us. Teams only build for challenges with someone waiting for the tool.
0ready to build
Next build day
5 ways to tackle it
Hardware and sensors
Kettle Pulse: a smart plug that alerts family when the morning never starts
A power-metering plug on the kettle or rice cooker notices the usual morning use. If nothing has started by 10 AM, it sends a gentle call to the relative, then to a neighbor. The mother sees nothing, no camera, no button to remember.
Build with Shelly Plug or Tuya smart plug, Home Assistant or n8n, Twilio call
Hardware and sensors
Hello Lamp: two lamps, one at mom's and one at yours, that glow when the other taps
Mom taps her lamp each morning and the son's lamp glows warm for an hour. He taps his and hers glows too. No tap by 10 AM turns his lamp amber and starts the kettle check, so the check-in feels like a hello and not surveillance.
Build with Two ESP32 with capacitive touch, WS2812 LEDs, MQTT, 3D-printed shells
Voice and phone
Morning Call: an AI phone call in Thai that listens for trouble
At 9 AM the phone rings and a warm Thai voice asks about sleep, food and pills. It listens for slurring, confusion or a long silence, and escalates to a neighbor or relative if it hears any. Works on a basic phone.
Build with Twilio Voice, Whisper Thai, Claude, Thai TTS, simple voice-stress scoring
Camera and vision
Water Tick: a camera on the water meter that reports a day with no flow
A small camera on the building's water meter photographs it three times a day. Claude vision reads the dial and the system notes that no water moved today. The family sees a green tick, or a call if the meter has not turned since yesterday.
Build with ESP32-CAM, Claude vision, Google Sheets, Twilio
AI agent
Knock Ladder: an agent that calls mom, then the neighbor, then you, in order
When a check does not come back, the agent calls mother, then the closest trusted neighbor, then the relative, each in Thai with a single question. The first to answer and confirm ends the alert. Whoever lives closest knocks, and the far-away son knows who did.
Build with Twilio Voice, Claude, Supabase, Whisper Thai
What people reported
The Nation: 1.8 million elderly alone, proposed digital safety net using utility use alerts
nationthailand.comSon living apart from his nearly 70-year-old mother asks how to care remotely; CCTV isn't enough
pantip.com