SciBaby

SciBaby, a smartphone app providing scientific support for infant sleep and crying issues, is being developed by a collaborative research group led by Professor Kumi Kuroda and Researcher Ayato Harachi from the Department of Life Science and Technology, School of Life Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, and Professor Natsue Yoshimura from the Department of Information Science and Engineering, School of Information Science and Engineering.

In 2013, the Kuroda Laboratory discovered the “transport response” in mammalian infants, where being carried and rocked relaxes them and stops their crying. Furthermore, in 2022, they reported that continuing this transport for 5 minutes causes about half of crying infants to fall asleep.

Building on this foundational research, SciBaby assists caregivers in inducing natural sleep in infants through five minutes of walking while holding them, followed by sitting while holding them.

Furthermore, SciBaby acquires data from a wristwatch-type pulse sensor attached to the infant's leg, contributing to the development of AI that predicts infant sleep.

In previous experiments using SciBaby and the Polar Verity Sense pulse wave sensor, over 80% of crying infants stopped crying after being carried and walked for 5 to 10 minutes. Furthermore, approximately half of them fell asleep during the subsequent 8 minutes of being held in a seated position. However, when placed in bed, about 20% of the infants who had fallen asleep woke up. Therefore, further research is needed to predict the optimal timing for putting infants to sleep.