Design of cloud robotic services for senior citizens to improve independent living in multiple environments

The paper proposed a cloud robotic solution for the healthcare management of senior citizens, to demonstrate the opportunity to remotely provide continuous assistive robotic services to a number of seniors regardless to their position in the monitored environment. In particular, a medication reminding, a remote home monitoring and an user indoor localization service were outsourced in the cloud and provided to the robots, users and caregivers on request. The proposed system was composed of a number of robotic agents distributed over two smart environments: a flat at the Domocasa Lab (Peccioli, IT) and a condominium at the Angen site of the Orebro science park (Orebro, SE). The cloud acquired data from remote smart environments and enabled the local robots to provide advanced assistive services to a number of users. The proposed smart environments were able to collect raw data for the environmental monitoring and the localization of the users by means of wireless sensors, and provide such data to the cloud. On the cloud, specific algorithms improved the local robots, by providing event scheduling to accomplish assistive services and situation awareness on the users position and environments’ status. The indoor user localization service, was provided by means of commercial and ad-hoc sensors distributed over the environments and a sensor fusion algorithm on the cloud. The entire cloud solution was evaluated in terms of Quality of Service (QoS) to estimate the effectiveness of the architecture

A cognitive robotic ecology approach to self-configuring and evolving AAL systems

Robotic ecologies are systems made out of several robotic devices, including mobile robots, wireless sensors and effectors embedded in everyday environments, where they cooperate to achieve complex tasks. This paper demonstrates how endowing robotic ecologies with information processing algorithms such as perception, learning, planning, and novelty detection can make these systems able to deliver modular, flexible, manageable and dependable Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) solutions. Specifically, we show how the integrated and self-organising cognitive solutions implemented within the EU project RUBICON (Robotic UBIquitous Cognitive Network) can reduce the need of costly pre-programming and maintenance of robotic ecologies. We illustrate how these solutions can be harnessed to (i) deliver a range of assistive services by coordinating the sensing & acting capabilities of heterogeneous devices, (ii) adapt and tune the overall behaviour of the ecology to the preferences and behaviour of its inhabitants, and also (iii) deal with novel events, due to the occurrence of new user's activities and changing user's habits

SHELDON Smart habitat for the elderly.

An insightful document concerning active and assisted living under different perspectives: Furniture and habitat, ICT solutions and Healthcare

Cognitive assisted living ambient system: a survey

The demographic change towards an aging population is creating a significant impact and introducing drastic challenges to our society. We therefore need to find ways to assist older people to stay independently and prevent social isolation of these population. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) provide various solutions to help older adults to improve their quality of life, stay healthier, and live independently for a time. Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) is a field to investigate innovative technologies to provide assistance as well as healthcare and rehabilitation to impaired seniors. The paper provides a review of research background and technologies of AAL

Feature Papers "Age-Friendly Cities & Communities: State of the Art and Future Perspectives"

The "Age-Friendly Cities & Communities: States of the Art and Future Perspectives" publication presents contemporary, innovative, and insightful narratives, debates, and frameworks based on an international collection of papers from scholars spanning the fields of gerontology, social sciences, architecture, computer science, and gerontechnology. This extensive collection of papers aims to move the narrative and debates forward in this interdisciplinary field of age-friendly cities and communities

Future bathroom: A study of user-centred design principles affecting usability, safety and satisfaction in bathrooms for people living with disabilities

Research and development work relating to assistive technology 2010-11 (Department of Health) Presented to Parliament pursuant to Section 22 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 197

Towards a Sustainable Life: Smart and Green Design in Buildings and Community

This Special Issue includes contributions about occupants’ sustainable living in buildings and communities, highlighting issues surrounding the sustainable development of our environments and lives by emphasizing smart and green design perspectives. This Special Issue specifically focuses on research and case studies that develop promising methods for the sustainable development of our environment and identify factors critical to the application of a sustainable paradigm for quality of life from a user-oriented perspective. After a rigorous review of the submissions by experts, fourteen articles concerning sustainable living and development are published in this Special Issue, written by authors sharing their expertise and approaches to the concept and application of sustainability in their fields. The fourteen contributions to this special issue can be categorized into four groups, depending on the issues that they address. All the proposed methods, models, and applications in these studies contribute to the current understanding of the adoption of the sustainability paradigm and are likely to inspire further research addressing the challenges of constructing sustainable buildings and communities resulting in a sustainable life for all of society