Evaluating the Possibility of Integrating Augmented Reality and Internet of Things Technologies to Help Patients with Alzheimer's Disease

People suffering from Alzheimer's disease (AD) and their caregivers seek different approaches to cope with memory loss. Although AD patients want to live independently, they often need help from caregivers. In this situation, caregivers may attach notes on every single object or take out the contents of a drawer to make them visible before leaving the patient alone at home. This study reports preliminary results on an Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) real-time system, achieved through the Internet of Things (IoT) and Augmented Reality (AR) concepts, aimed at helping people suffering from AD. The system has two main sections: the smartphone or windows application allows caregivers to monitor patients' status at home and be notified if patients are at risk. The second part allows patients to use smart glasses to recognize QR codes in the environment and receive information related to tags in the form of audio, text, or three-dimensional image. This work presents preliminary results and investigates the possibility of implementing such a system.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Establishing Design Principles for Augmented Reality for Older Adults

Augmented Reality (AR) is growing rapidly and becoming a more mature and robust technology, which combines virtual information with the real environment in real-time. This becomes significant in ensuring the acceptance and success of Augmented Reality systems. With the growing number of older mobile phone users, evidence shows the possible trends associated with using AR systems to support older adults in terms of transportation, home activities, rehabilitation training and entertainment. However, there is a lack of research on a theoretical framework or AR design principles that could support designers when developing suitable AR applications for specific groups (e.g. older adults). This PhD research mainly focuses on the possibility of developing and applying AR design principles to provide various possible design alternatives in order to address the relevant AR-related issues focusing on older adults. This research firstly identified the architecture of Augmented Reality to understand the definition of AR using a range of previous AR examples. Secondly, AR design principles (version 1) were identified after describing the AR features and analysing the AR design recommendations. Thirdly, this research refined the AR design principles (version 2) by conducting two half-day focus groups with AR prototypes and related scenarios for older adults. The final version of the AR design principles (version 3) for older adults was established. These are: Instantaneous Augmentation, Layer-focus Augmentation, Modality-focus Augmentation, Accurate Augmentation and Hidden Reality. Ultimately, all of these design principles were applied to AR applications and examined in practice using two focus groups. Additionally, as part of the process of AR principle development, a number of AR issues were identified and categorised in terms of User, Device, Augmentation, Real Content, Interaction and Physical World, based on the pre-established AR architecture. These AR issues and design principles may help AR designers to explore quality design alternatives, which could potentially benefit older adults

Diseño de un prototipo para una App de musicoterapia como ayuda al tratamiento de pacientes con Alzheimer

199 páginas. Doctorado en Diseño.La población mundial está envejeciendo a pasos agigantados y con ello se incrementa la posibilidad de padecer alguna enfermedad crónico degenerativa, la enfermedad de Alzheimer es una de estas enfermedades que tiene una muy significativa presencia en todo el mundo. Desde esta perspectiva, en este trabajo nos centramos en el tratamiento no farmacológico de la musicoterapia; proponiendo el diseño de una aplicación móvil que permita a los pacientes con la enfermedad de Alzheimer realizar sesiones de musicoterapia que apoyen su tratamiento, mediante seis módulos de la aplicación dispuestos para ello. La investigación engloba un estudio de los dominios implicados para la construcción de la herramienta, además de la búsqueda de diversas Apps tanto en el ámbito académico como el comercial. El estudio llevado a cabo reveló que son escasas las Apps de musicoterapia desarrolladas para los pacientes de Alzheimer. Por lo que se desarrolló un prototipo que se centra en 4 áreas principales donde la musicoterapia puede influir en el desarrollo del paciente (psicomotriz, comunicación y lenguaje, perceptivo-cognitiva, socio-emocional). El diseño de este prototipo implicó seis técnicas de musicoterapia, cada módulo propuesto en el diseño está relacionado con las 4 áreas mencionadas. El prototipo desarrollado innova en dos aspectos: 1) apoyar al paciente no importando la etapa de la enfermedad en que se encuentre y 2) puede realizar la terapia en cualquier lugar. El prototipo incluye además una estructura cognitivo-afectiva definida en un módulo-afectivo, a través del cual se contará con un grado de interacción con el fin de intervenir ante las posibles emociones positivas o negativas del paciente. Cada módulo de la App está relacionado con un conjunto de tareas, a través de las cuales es posible evaluar el avance del paciente, esta información se visualiza a través de las gráficas de seguimiento y el objetivo de las mimas es ayudar a los profesionales de la salud en la toma de decisiones para ajustar el tratamiento de los pacientes