ILWAUKIE, Ore. - While academic and corporate researchers develop systems to enable old people to stay out of nursing homes, at least one home for the elderly has already been built using some of the same concepts.

Oatfield Estates, a residential care complex developed by Elite Care here in this Portland suburb, is wired from top to bottom to monitor the residents' well- being. Even the residents themselves are wired, with electronic locating badges.

The complex, which opened last October, consists of 10 group homes; each one has separate bedrooms for 12 residents, common areas and a kitchen.

Each bed has sensors that can detect a resident's weight as well as how much a sleeping person tosses and turns. Infrared motion sensors switch lights on and off and detect whether a person has left a bed and not returned — which could indicate a fall. Incontinence can be handled with programmable lights that cue a resident to use the bathroom. Electric panels are in the wall behind the toilets for the future installation of toilet sensors that will detect a person's pulse and body temperature and whether the person is dehydrated.

In addition, all residents wear tracking badges that also serve as electronic room keys and help buttons. A high- bandwidth fiber optic system conveys the tracking information to a central database, where staff members monitor the data for aberrations. Residents' rooms also have touch-screen computer stations for e-mail and Web surfing. And thanks to the tracking badges, software lets residents locate their friends on a floor plan.

Residents can view and track their own medical information and make it available on the Web if they want family members to see it. Other software acts as a cognitive crutch, reminding residents to take their medicine. Care providers, who also wear tracking badges that monitor when and how long they are in a room, can log their activities onto a resident's computer as they work, reducing paperwork.

Bill Reed, owner of Elite Care, said that the technology could increase the freedom of elderly people while providing a way to monitor the quality of care.

"One of the things that happens when you move into a facility for seniors," he said, "is that they constrict your freedom because they are afraid of the risks, such as someone falling and nobody noticing, or burning themselves on a stove, or that someone will go out and get lost." With technological monitoring, he said, "the computer can keep an eye on residents' weight, vital signs, movement and location, and if there is an anomaly, it can alert the management to send someone to check."

One aspect of this approach is that each house has a family-style kitchen. "We allow residents to participate in cooking if they want," Mr. Reed said. "Most facilities don't do that because they are afraid that some residents who shouldn't be near a stove will get burned. With the badges and the data relay, if someone tries to use the stove who is not authorized, it turns off."

This approach is not without controversy. Some fear that the human touch will be lost as care for the elderly becomes more automated. "A lot of people say, It's high tech — does that mean you are trying to cut down on the amount of care-giving?" Mr. Reed said. "No, we want the caregivers to be giving care, not doing government paperwork."

Mr. Reed said that society had in a sense already cut down on care for the elderly because people often moved far away from aging parents. In his vision, computers can pick up some of the slack.

"When my mother was taking care of my grandmother," Mr. Reed said, "she knew when she got up in the middle of the night, if she was losing weight or wandering around. The computer takes the place of someone who is looking after you, and has that sixth sense that knows when your mother has fallen." As for privacy concerns, Mr. Reed noted that much of the equipment in his housing could be turned off if that was what residents wanted.

But he sees the issue of privacy from a different perspective. "The converse to Big Brother is that you restrict people's freedom because of insurance," Mr. Reed said. "Right now, especially with people with dementia, we lock them in their rooms. So the question is, Would you rather be locked in your room or would you rather have freedom and have someone monitor your information so they can pick you up if you fall down?"

Oatfield Estates has been slow to fill up, with only 8 of 120 places filled, which may have something to do with the fact that it costs a hefty $3,250 a month ($3,650 for couples). But as younger generations more comfortable with technology begin to retire and age, this option may become increasingly appealing.

"I figure in another couple decades, I'd better have a good system developed," Mr. Reed said, "because you couldn't drag me into a facility that they have now."