Seeed Adds Home Assistant-Ready Breathing, Fall Detection Sensors to its mmWave Range
Designed for privacy-centric health and activity monitoring, the compact sensors are powered by the Espressif ESP32-C6 and ESPHome.
Embedded and hobbyist electronics specialist Seeed Studio has announced a pair of new mmWave sensor kits, designed to deliver on-device edge AI detection of falls and heartbeats respectively: the MR60BFD2 and MR60BHA2 60GHz mmWave Sensor Kits, powered by the company's XIAO ESP32C6 development board.
"Millimeter Wave (mmWave) radar technology, recognized for its high accuracy, privacy-centric capabilities, adaptability, and flexibility, is increasingly becoming a critical tool in privacy-oriented sensing applications," says Seeed Studio's Lily Li of the company's latest launch. "These applications range from presence and fall detection to sensitive monitoring of breathing and heartbeat. To empower developers worldwide to adapt mmWave radar for more responsive automation, we are now excited to introduce two new mmWave Sensor Kits designed to meet diverse needs."
Both of the kits share a common hardware platform, pairing as they do a 60GHz mmWave radar module capable of human presence detection out to six meters (around 20 feet) with a Seeed XIAO ESP32C6 compact development board itself built around the Espressif ESP32-C6. Where the two differ is in their pre-installed edge-AI algorithms: the MR60BFD2 kit puts the hardware to work in static presence, activity, and fall detection, while the MR60BHA2 monitors pulse and breathing rates.
The pre-installed firmware on both devices is based on ESPHome, and designed for direct integration into Home Assistant. For those looking to use them as an off-the-shelf sensor for their smart home installation, Seeed has designed a printable wall-mountable housing; for those looking to experiment, there are 0.1" pin headers and a Grove input/output (IO) connector for expansion. Each unit also includes a user-controllable RGB LED and a light level sensor.
"[You can] configure the device in ESPHome, and [complete] no-code setup for Home Assistant in one-to-two minutes," the company promises of the sensor kits' out-of-box experience. "Thanks to the integration, you can customize detection zones and access analytics to pinpoint target locations efficiently from Home Assistant."
The MR60FDA2 60GHz mmWave Fall Detection Sensor Kit with XIAO ESP32C6 and MR60BHA2 60GHz mmWave Breathing and Heartbeat Detection Sensor Kit with XIAO ESP32C6 are now available on the Seeed store for $24.90 each; additional information is available in the company's getting started guide.