Software architecture for smart emotion recognition and regulation of the ageing adult

This paper introduces the architecture of an emotion-aware ambient intelligent and gerontechnological project named “Improvement of the Elderly Quality of Life and Care through Smart Emotion Regulation”. The objective of the proposal is to find solutions for improving the quality of life and care of the elderly who can or want to continue living at home by using emotion regulation techniques. A series of sensors is used for monitoring the elderlies’ facial and gestural expression, activity and behaviour, as well as relevant physiological data. This way the older people’s emotions are inferred and recognized. Music, colour and light are the stimulating means to regulate their emotions towards a positive and pleasant mood. Then, the paper proposes a gerontechnological software architecture that enables real-time, continuous monitoring of the elderly and provides the best-tailored reactions of the ambience in order to regulate the older person’s emotions towards a positive mood. After describing the benefits of the approach for emotion recognition and regulation in the elderly, the eight levels that compose the architecture are described.This work was partially supported by Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad/FEDER under TIN2013-47074-C2-1-R grant. José Carlos Castillo was partially supported by a grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Financial Mechanism, operated by Universidad Complutense de Madrid.Publicad

Survey on virtual coaching for older adults

Virtual coaching has emerged as a promising solution to extend independent living for older adults. A virtual coach system is an always-attentive personalized system that continuously monitors user's activity and surroundings and delivers interventions - that is, intentional messages - in the appropriate moment. This article presents a survey of different approaches in virtual coaching for older adults, from the less technically supported tools to the latest developments and future avenues for research. It focuses on the technical aspects, especially on software architectures, user interaction and coaching personalization. Nevertheless, some aspects from the fields of personality/social psychology are also presented in the context of coaching strategies. Coaching is considered holistically, including matters such as physical and cognitive training, nutrition, social interaction and mood.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 769830

Speech analysis for Ambient Assisted Living : technical and user design of a vocal order system

International audienceEvolution of ICT led to the emergence of smart home. A Smart Home consists in a home equipped with data-processing technology which anticipates the needs of its inhabitant while trying to maintain their comfort and their safety by action on the house and by implementing connections with the outside world. Therefore, smart homes equipped with ambient intelligence technology constitute a promising direction to enable the growing number of elderly to continue to live in their own homes as long as possible. However, the technological solutions requested by this part of the population have to suit their specific needs and capabilities. It is obvious that these Smart Houses tend to be equipped with devices whose interfaces are increasingly complex and become difficult to control by the user. The people the most likely to benefit from these new technologies are the people in loss of autonomy such as the disabled people or the elderly which cognitive deficiencies (Alzheimer). Moreover, these people are the less capable of using the complex interfaces due to their handicap or their lack ICT understanding. Thus, it becomes essential to facilitate the daily life and the access to the whole home automation system through the smart home. The usual tactile interfaces should be supplemented by accessible interfaces, in particular, thanks to a system reactive to the voice ; these interfaces are also useful when the person cannot move easily. Vocal orders will allow the following functionality: - To ensure an assistance by a traditional or vocal order. - To set up a indirect order regulation for a better energy management. - To reinforce the link with the relatives by the integration of interfaces dedicated and adapted to the person in loss of autonomy. - To ensure more safety by detection of distress situations and when someone is breaking in the house. This chapter will describe the different steps which are needed for the conception of an audio ambient system. The first step is related to the acceptability and the objection aspects by the end users and we will report a user evaluation assessing the acceptance and the fear of this new technology. The experience aimed at testing three important aspects of speech interaction: voice command, communication with the outside world, home automation system interrupting a person's activity. The experiment was conducted in a smart home with a voice command using a Wizard of OZ technique and gave information of great interest. The second step is related to a general presentation of the audio sensing technology for ambient assisted living. Different aspect of sound and speech processing will be developed. The applications and challenges will be presented. The third step is related to speech recognition in the home environment. Automatic Speech Recognition systems (ASR) have reached good performances with close talking microphones (e.g., head-set), but the performances decrease significantly as soon as the microphone is moved away from the mouth of the speaker (e.g., when the microphone is set in the ceiling). This deterioration is due to a broad variety of effects including reverberation and presence of undetermined background noise such as TV radio and, devices. This part will present a system of vocal order recognition in distant speech context. This system was evaluated in a dedicated flat thanks to some experiments. This chapter will then conclude with a discussion on the interest of the speech modality concerning the Ambient Assisted Living

Active aging in place supported by caregiver-centered modular low-cost platform

Aging in place happens when people age in the residence of their choice, usually their homes because is their preference for living as long as possible. This research work is focused on the conceptualization and implementation of a platform to support active aging in place with a particular focus on the caregivers and their requirements to accomplish their tasks with comfort and supervision. An engagement dimension is also a plus provided by the platform since it supports modules to make people react to challenges, stimulating them to be naturally more active. The platform is supported by IoT, using low-cost technology to increment the platform modularly. Is a modular platform capable of responding to specific needs of seniors aging in place and their caregivers, obtaining data regarding the person under supervision, as well as providing conditions for constant and more effective monitoring, through modules and tools that support decision making and tasks realization for active living. The constant monitoring allows knowing the routine of daily activities of the senior. The use of machine learning techniques allows the platform to identify, in real-time, situations of potential risk, allowing to trigger triage processes with the older adult, and consequently trigger the necessary actions so that the caregiver can intervene in useful time.O envelhecimento no local acontece quando as pessoas envelhecem na residência da sua escolha, geralmente nas suas próprias casas porque é a sua preferência para viver o máximo de tempo possível. Este trabalho de investigação foca-se na conceptualização e implementação de uma plataforma de apoio ao envelhecimento ativo no local, com particular enfoque nos cuidadores e nas suas necessidades para cumprir as suas tarefas com conforto e supervisão. Uma dimensão de engajamento também é um diferencial da plataforma, pois esta integra módulos de desafios para fazer as pessoas reagirem aos mesmos, estimulando-as a serem naturalmente mais ativas. A plataforma é suportada por IoT, utilizando tecnologia de baixo custo para incrementar a plataforma de forma modular. É uma plataforma modular capaz de responder às necessidades específicas do envelhecimento dos idosos no local e dos seus cuidadores, obtendo dados relativos à pessoa sob supervisão, bem como fornecendo condições para um acompanhamento constante e mais eficaz, através de módulos e ferramentas que apoiam a tomada de decisões e realização de tarefas para a vida ativa. A monitorização constante permite conhecer a rotina das atividades diárias do idoso, permitindo que, com a utilização de técnicas de machine learning, a plataforma seja capaz de detetar em tempo real situações de risco potencial, permitindo desencadear um processo de triagem junto do idoso, e consequentemente despoletar as ações necessárias para que o prestador de cuidados possa intervir em tempo útil

Applications of sensors for in-home elder support

The number of retirees in the US is continuously increasing in proportion to the total population as the baby-boomers in the United States age. As these retirees age they are in need on continuous medical treatment and care which impacts the percent of the national budget placed on healthcare. As healthcare issues with the retirees they are often moved by their family members to assisted living facilities or to nursing homes. This movement is costly to both the family members and to the government agencies paying for or subsidizing their care. The proposal brought forth in this thesis is to design a sensor based system that should reduce the need for personnel and enhance elder\u27s quality of life by affording them more independence allowing them to live at home longer; The purpose of this thesis is the evaluation of different sensor types with regard to benefits, specificity of sensor signal to the function being monitored, drawbacks, reliability, acceptance levels by elders, privacy concerns. The design concepts for sensor assembly\u27s configurations under the special set of criteria that must be applied in the homes of elders, information of reliability studies: signal threshold levels, resolution of potential conflicts or false positives. Finally an inference engine R&D: Drawing inferences and conclusions from signals and temporal sequences, correlation with other signals, signal validation and plausibility analysis. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Applications of Affective Computing in Human-Robot Interaction: state-of-art and challenges for manufacturing

The introduction of collaborative robots aims to make production more flexible, promoting a greater interaction between humans and robots also from physical point of view. However, working closely with a robot may lead to the creation of stressful situations for the operator, which can negatively affect task performance. In Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), robots are expected to be socially intelligent, i.e., capable of understanding and reacting accordingly to human social and affective clues. This ability can be exploited implementing affective computing, which concerns the development of systems able to recognize, interpret, process, and simulate human affects. Social intelligence is essential for robots to establish a natural interaction with people in several contexts, including the manufacturing sector with the emergence of Industry 5.0. In order to take full advantage of the human-robot collaboration, the robotic system should be able to perceive the psycho-emotional and mental state of the operator through different sensing modalities (e.g., facial expressions, body language, voice, or physiological signals) and to adapt its behaviour accordingly. The development of socially intelligent collaborative robots in the manufacturing sector can lead to a symbiotic human-robot collaboration, arising several research challenges that still need to be addressed. The goals of this paper are the following: (i) providing an overview of affective computing implementation in HRI; (ii) analyzing the state-of-art on this topic in different application contexts (e.g., healthcare, service applications, and manufacturing); (iii) highlighting research challenges for the manufacturing sector

A Mobile Healthcare Solution for Ambient Assisted Living Environments

Elderly people need regular healthcare services and, several times, are dependent of physicians’ personal attendance. This dependence raises several issues to elders, such as, the need to travel and mobility support. Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) and Mobile Health (m-Health) services and applications offer good healthcare solutions that can be used both on indoor and in mobility environments. This dissertation presents an ambient assisted living (AAL) solution for mobile environments. It includes elderly biofeedback monitoring using body sensors for data collection offering support for remote monitoring. The used sensors are attached to the human body (such as the electrocardiogram, blood pressure, and temperature). They collect data providing comfort, mobility, and guaranteeing efficiency and data confidentiality. Periodic collection of patients’ data is important to gather more accurate measurements and to avoid common risky situations, like a physical fall may be considered something natural in life span and it is more dangerous for senior people. One fall can out a life in extreme cases or cause fractures, injuries, but when it is early detected through an accelerometer, for example, it can avoid a tragic outcome. The presented proposal monitors elderly people, storing collected data in a personal computer, tablet, or smartphone through Bluetooth. This application allows an analysis of possible health condition warnings based on the input of supporting charts, and real-time bio-signals monitoring and is able to warn users and the caretakers. These mobile devices are also used to collect data, which allow data storage and its possible consultation in the future. The proposed system is evaluated, demonstrated and validated through a prototype and it is ready for use. The watch Texas ez430-Chronos, which is capable to store information for later analysis and the sensors Shimmer who allow the creation of a personalized application that it is capable of measuring biosignals of the patient in real time is described throughout this dissertation

A Sensing Platform to Monitor Sleep Efficiency

Sleep plays a fundamental role in the human life. Sleep research is mainly focused on the understanding of the sleep patterns, stages and duration. An accurate sleep monitoring can detect early signs of sleep deprivation and insomnia consequentially implementing mechanisms for preventing and overcoming these problems. Recently, sleep monitoring has been achieved using wearable technologies, able to analyse also the body movements, but old people can encounter some difficulties in using and maintaining these devices. In this paper, we propose an unobtrusive sensing platform able to analyze body movements, infer sleep duration and awakenings occurred along the night, and evaluating the sleep efficiency index. To prove the feasibility of the suggested method we did a pilot trial in which several healthy users have been involved. The sensors were installed within the bed and, on each day, each user was administered with the Groningen Sleep Quality Scale questionnaire to evaluate the user’s perceived sleep quality. Finally, we show potential correlation between a perceived evaluation with an objective index as the sleep efficiency.</p

Investigando Natural User Interfaces (NUIs) : tecnologias e interação em contexto de acessibilidade

Orientador: Maria Cecília Calani BaranauskasTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de ComputaçãoResumo: Natural User Interfaces (NUIs) representam um novo paradigma de interação, com a promessa de ser mais intuitivo e fácil de usar do que seu antecessor, que utiliza mouse e teclado. Em um contexto no qual as tecnologias estão cada vez mais invisíveis e pervasivas, não só a quantidade mas também a diversidade de pessoas que participam deste contexto é crescente. Nesse caso, é preciso estudar como esse novo paradigma de interação de fato consegue ser acessível a todas as pessoas que podem utilizá-lo no dia-a-dia. Ademais, é preciso também caracterizar o paradigma em si, para entender o que o torna, de fato, natural. Portanto, nesta tese apresentamos o caminho que percorremos em busca dessas duas respostas: como caracterizar NUIs, no atual contexto tecnológico, e como tornar NUIs acessíveis para todos. Para tanto, primeiro apresentamos uma revisão sistemática de literatura com o estado da arte. Depois, mostramos um conjunto de heurísticas para o design e a avaliação de NUIs, que foram aplicadas em estudos de caso práticos. Em seguida, estruturamos as ideias desta pesquisa dentro dos artefatos da Semiótica Organizacional, e obtivemos esclarecimentos sobre como fazer o design de NUIs com Acessibilidade, seja por meio de Design Universal, seja para propor Tecnologias Assistivas. Depois, apresentamos três estudos de caso com sistemas NUI cujo design foi feito por nós. A partir desses estudos de caso, expandimos nosso referencial teórico e conseguimos, por fim, encontrar três elementos que resumem a nossa caracterização de NUI: diferenças, affordances e enaçãoAbstract: Natural User Interfaces (NUIs) represent a new interaction paradigm, with the promise of being more intuitive and easy to use than its predecessor, that utilizes mouse and keyboard. In a context where technology is becoming each time more invisible and pervasive, not only the amount but also the diversity of people who participate in this context is increasing. In this case, it must be studied how this new interaction paradigm can, in fact, be accessible to all the people who may use it on their daily routine. Furthermore, it is also necessary to characterize the paradigm itself, to understand what makes it, in fact, natural. Therefore, in this thesis we present the path we took in search of these two answers: how to characterize NUIs in the current technological context, and how to make NUIs accessible to all. To do so, first we present a systematic literature review with the state of the art. Then, we show a set of heuristics for the design and evaluation of NUIs, which were applied in practical study cases. Afterwards, we structure the ideas of this research into the Organizational Semiotics artifacts, and we obtain insights into how to design NUIs with Accessibility, be it through Universal Design, be it to propose Assistive Technologies. Then, we present three case studies with NUI systems which we designed. From these case studies, we expanded our theoretical references were able to, finally, find three elements that sum up our characterization of NUI: differences, affordances and enactionDoutoradoCiência da ComputaçãoDoutora em Ciência da Computação160911/2015-0CAPESCNP