We introduce a novel multimodal dataset and benchmark results for continuous PPG recordings during outdoor activities from 16 participants over 13.5 hours,

Heart rate estimation from photoplethysmography (PPG) signals generated by wearable devices such as smartwatches and fitness trackers has significant implications for the health and well-being of individuals. Although prior work has demonstrated deep learning models with strong performance in the heart rate estimation task, in order to deploy these models on wearable devices, these models must also adhere to strict memory and latency constraints. In this work, we explore and characterize how large pre-trained PPG models may be distilled to smaller models appropriate for real-time inference on the edge. We evaluate four distillation strategies through comprehensive sweeps of teacher and student model capacities: (1) hard distillation, (2) soft distillation, (3) decoupled knowledge distillation (DKD), and (4) feature distillation. We present a characterization of the resulting scaling laws describing the relationship between model size and performance. This early investigation lays the groundwork for practical and predictable methods for building edge-deployable models for physiological sensing.

Tiny Machine Learning (TinyML) algorithms have seen extensive use in recent years, enabling wearable devices to be not only connected but also genuinely intelligent by running machine learning (ML) computations directly on-device. Among such devices, smart glasses have particularly benefited from TinyML advancements. TinyML facilitates the on-device execution of the inference phase of ML algorithms on embedded and wearable devices, and more recently, it has expanded into On-device Learning (ODL), which allows both inference and learning phases to occur directly on the device. The application of ODL techniques to wearable devices is particularly compelling, as it enables the development of more personalized models that adapt based on the data of the user. However, one of the major challenges of ODL algorithms is the scarcity of labeled data collected on-device. In smart wearable contexts, requiring users to manually label large amounts of data is often impractical and could lead to user disengagement with the technology. To address this issue, this paper explores the application of Active Learning (AL) techniques, i.e., techniques that aim at minimizing the labeling effort, by actively selecting from a large quantity of unlabeled data only a small subset to be labeled and added to the training set of the algorithm. In particular, we propose TActiLE, a novel AL algorithm that selects from the stream of on-device sensor data the ones that would help the ML algorithm improve the most once coupled with labels provided by the user. TActiLE is the first Active Learning technique specifically designed for the TinyML context. We evaluate its effectiveness and efficiency through experiments on multiple image classification datasets. The results demonstrate its suitability for tiny and wearable devices.

Researchers from the Institute of Science Tokyo and other institutions have developed an AI model that detects high diabetes risk using only electrocardiogram data. A team of researchers from organizations such as the Institute of Science Tokyo said Tuesday it has developed an artificial intelligence model that can detect a high risk of diabetes using only electrocardiogram (EKG) data. This method, which does not require blood tests, can lead to possible early detection of the disease and help those at high risk review their lifestyles, according to the team. Together with other team members, Tetsuya Yamada, a professor at the university, divided about 16,000 people who underwent medical checkups in Tokyo in 2022 into a group of diabetics and prediabetics, with higher-than-standard blood sugar levels, and a group of subjects with normal readings. The team put its EKG data into an AI model to analyze minuscule changes in cardiac muscle movement that appear in the prediabetic stage.

Background and Objectives: This paper focuses on using AI to assess the cognitive function of older adults with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia using physiological data provided by a wearable device. Cognitive screening tools are disruptive, time-consuming, and only capture brief snapshots of activity. Wearable sensors offer an attractive alternative by continuously monitoring physiological signals. This study investigated whether physiological data can accurately predict scores on established cognitive tests. Research Design and Methods: We recorded physiological signals from 23 older adults completing three NIH Toolbox Cognitive Battery tests, which assess working memory, processing speed, and attention. The Empatica EmbracePlus, a wearable device, measured blood volume pulse, skin conductance, temperature, and movement. Statistical features were extracted using wavelet-based and segmentation methods. We then applied supervised learning and validated predictions via cross-validation, hold-out testing, and bootstrapping. Results: Our models showed strong performance with Spearman's ρof 0.73-0.82 and mean absolute errors of 0.14-0.16, significantly outperforming a naive mean predictor. Sensor roles varied: heart-related signals combined with movement and temperature best predicted working memory, movement paired with skin conductance was most informative for processing speed, and heart in tandem with skin conductance worked best for attention. Discussion and Implications: These findings suggest that wearable sensors paired with AI tools such as supervised learning and feature engineering can noninvasively track specific cognitive functions in older adults, enabling continuous monitoring. Our study demonstrates how AI can be leveraged when the data sample is small. This approach may support remote assessments and facilitate clinical interventions.

Abstract-- The oscillations of the human heart rate are inherently complex and non-linear--they are best described by mathematical chaos, and they present a challenge when applied to the practical domain of cardiovascular health monitoring in everyday life. In this work, we study the non-linear chaotic behavior of heart rate through mutual information and introduce a novel approach for enhancing heart rate estimation in real-life conditions. Our proposed approach not only explains and handles the non-linear temporal complexity from a mathematical perspective but also improves the deep learning solutions when combined with them. We validate our proposed method on four established datasets from real-life scenarios and compare its performance with existing algorithms thoroughly with extensive ablation experiments. Our results demonstrate a substantial improvement, up to 40%, of the proposed approach in estimating heart rate compared to traditional methods and existing machine-learning techniques while reducing the reliance on multiple sensing modalities and eliminating the need for post-processing steps. Healthy biological systems exhibit complex patterns of variability that can be described by mathematical chaos [1], [2]. A healthy heart is not a metronome; instead, its complex and constantly changing oscillations enable the cardiovascular system to rapidly adjust to sudden physical and psychological challenges to homeostasis [2]. Therefore, measuring heart rate (HR) during daily life has significant importance in monitoring individuals' health.

Robotic manipulators are increasingly used to assist individuals with mobility impairments in object retrieval. However, the predominant joystick-based control interfaces can be challenging due to high precision requirements and unintuitive reference frames. Recent advances in human-robot interaction have explored alternative modalities, yet many solutions still rely on external screens or restrictive control schemes, limiting their intuitiveness and accessibility. To address these challenges, we present an egocentric, gaze-guided robotic manipulation interface that leverages a wearable Mixed Reality (MR) headset. Our system enables users to interact seamlessly with real-world objects using natural gaze fixation from a first-person perspective, while providing augmented visual cues to confirm intent and leveraging a pretrained vision model and robotic arm for intent recognition and object manipulation. Experimental results demonstrate that our approach significantly improves manipulation accuracy, reduces system latency, and achieves single-pass intention and object recognition accuracy greater than 88% across multiple real-world scenarios. These results demonstrate the system's effectiveness in enhancing intuitiveness and accessibility, underscoring its practical significance for assistive robotics applications.

Abstract--Falls among elderly and disabled individuals remain a leading cause of injury and mortality worldwide, necessitating robust, accurate, and privacy-aware fall detection systems. Traditional fall detection approaches, whether centralized or point-wise, often struggle with key challenges such as limited gener-alizability, data privacy concerns, and variability in individual movement behaviors. T o address these limitations, we propose EPFL--an Ensembled Penalized Federated Learning framework that integrates continual learning, personalized modeling, and a novel Specialized Weighted Aggregation (SW A) strategy. EPFL leverages wearable sensor data to capture sequential motion patterns while preserving user privacy through homomorphic encryption and federated training. Unlike existing federated models, EPFL incorporates both penalized local training and ensemble-based inference to improve inter-client consistency and adaptability to behavioral differences. Extensive experiments on a benchmark fall detection dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, achieving a Recall of 88.31% and an F1-score of 89.94%, significantly outperforming both centralized and baseline models. This work presents a scalable, secure, and accurate solution for real-world fall detection in healthcare settings, with strong potential for continuous improvement via its adaptive feedback mechanism. Due to changes in traditional family structures, the number of older individuals living alone has significantly increased over the past few decades [1]. According to the report from World Health Organization (WHO) [2], falls are the second leading cause of unintentional injury deaths worldwide, with particularly high morbidity among individuals aged 60 and older. Resulting in severe injuries, including fractures, head trauma, and even death, falls can significantly decline the quality of life of older adults [3]. Considering this, the need for effective monitoring and fall detection systems has been raised by this change aiming to ensure the safety of seniors. Falls can have long-term impacts on individuals, including significant disability-adjusted life years (DAL Ys) and high financial costs. According to the report [2], falls cause over 38 million DAL Ys lost annually worldwide. In Canada, a 20% reduction in falls could save approximately US$120 million each year. Considering the severe injuries, potential fatalities and other additional costs resulting from sudden falls [4], fall detection is a critical research area, especially for the elderly and individuals with disabilities.

Over the years, significant contributions have been made by the research and industrial sectors to improve wearable devices towards the Internet of Wearable Things (IoWT) paradigm. However, wearables are still facing several challenges. Many stem from the limited battery power and insufficient computation resources available on wearable devices. On the other hand, with the popularity of smart wearables, there is a consistent increase in the development of new computationally intensive and latency-critical applications. In such a context, task offloading allows wearables to leverage the resources available on nearby edge devices to enhance the overall user experience. This paper proposes a framework for Reinforcement Learning (RL)-based task offloading in the IoWT. We formulate the task offloading process considering the tradeoff between energy consumption and task accomplishment time. Moreover, we model the task offloading problem as a Markov Decision Process (MDP) and utilize the Q-learning technique to enable the wearable device to make optimal task offloading decisions without prior knowledge. We evaluate the performance of the proposed framework through extensive simulations for various applications and system configurations conducted in the ns-3 network simulator. We also show how varying the main system parameters of the Q-learning algorithm affects the overall performance in terms of average task accomplishment time, average energy consumption, and percentage of tasks offloaded.

We introduce a novel multimodal dataset and benchmark results for continuous PPG recordings during outdoor activities from 16 participants over 13.5 hours,