Flexible context aware interface for ambient assisted living

A Multi Agent System that provides a (cared for) person, the subject, with assistance and support through an Ambient Assisted Living Flexible Interface (AALFI) during the day while complementing the night time assistance offered by NOCTURNAL with feedback assistance, is presented. It has been tailored to the subject’s requirements profile and takes into account factors associated with the time of day; hence it attempts to overcome shortcomings of current Ambient Assisted Living Systems. The subject is provided with feedback that highlights important criteria such as quality of sleep during the night and possible breeches of safety during the day. This may help the subject carry out corrective measures and/or seek further assistance. AALFI provides tailored interaction that is either visual or auditory so that the subject is able to understand the interactions and this process is driven by a Multi-Agent System. User feedback gathered from a relevant user group through a workshop validated the ideas underpinning the research, the Multi-agent system and the adaptable interface

Conversational affective social robots for ageing and dementia support

Socially assistive robots (SAR) hold significant potential to assist older adults and people with dementia in human engagement and clinical contexts by supporting mental health and independence at home. While SAR research has recently experienced prolific growth, long-term trust, clinical translation and patient benefit remain immature. Affective human-robot interactions are unresolved and the deployment of robots with conversational abilities is fundamental for robustness and humanrobot engagement. In this paper, we review the state of the art within the past two decades, design trends, and current applications of conversational affective SAR for ageing and dementia support. A horizon scanning of AI voice technology for healthcare, including ubiquitous smart speakers, is further introduced to address current gaps inhibiting home use. We discuss the role of user-centred approaches in the design of voice systems, including the capacity to handle communication breakdowns for effective use by target populations. We summarise the state of development in interactions using speech and natural language processing, which forms a baseline for longitudinal health monitoring and cognitive assessment. Drawing from this foundation, we identify open challenges and propose future directions to advance conversational affective social robots for: 1) user engagement, 2) deployment in real-world settings, and 3) clinical translation

Flexible context aware interface for ambient assisted living

A Multi Agent System that provides a (cared for) person, the subject, with assistance and support through an Ambient Assisted Living Flexible Interface (AALFI) during the day while complementing the night time assistance offered by NOCTURNAL with feedback assistance, is presented. It has been tailored to the subject’s requirements profile and takes into account factors associated with the time of day; hence it attempts to overcome shortcomings of current Ambient Assisted Living Systems. The subject is provided with feedback that highlights important criteria such as quality of sleep during the night and possible breeches of safety during the day. This may help the subject carry out corrective measures and/or seek further assistance. AALFI provides tailored interaction that is either visual or auditory so that the subject is able to understand the interactions and this process is driven by a Multi-Agent System. User feedback gathered from a relevant user group through a workshop validated the ideas underpinning the research, the Multi-agent system and the adaptable interface

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

Pervasive Technologies and Support for Independent Living

A broad range of pervasive technologies are used in many domains, including healthcare: however, there appears to be little work examining the role of such technologies in the home, or the different wants and needs of elderly users. Additionally, there exist ethical issues surrounding the use of highly personal healthcare-related data, and interface issues centred on the novelty of the technologies and the disabilities experienced by the users. This report examines these areas, before considering the ways in which they might come together to help support independent-living users with disabilities which may be age-related

What Characterizes Safety of Ambient Assisted Living Technologies?

Ambient assisted living (AAL) technologies aim at increasing an individual's safety at home by early recognizing risks or events that might otherwise harm the individual. A clear definition of safety in the context of AAL is still missing and facets of safety still have to be shaped. The objective of this paper is to characterize the facets of AAL-related safety, to identify opportunities and challenges of AAL regarding safety and to identify open research issues in this context. Papers reporting aspects of AAL-related safety were selected in a literature search. Out of 395 citations retrieved, 28 studies were included in the current review. Two main facets of safety were identified: user safety and system safety. System safety concerns an AAL system's reliability, correctness and data quality. User safety reflects impact on physical and mental health of an individual. Privacy, data safety and security issues, sensor quality and integration of sensor data, as well as technical failures of sensors and systems are reported challenges. To conclude, there is a research gap regarding methods and metrics for measuring user and system safety in the context of AAL technologies

Advances in Telecare over The Past Ten Years

This article reviews advances during the past decade or so in telecare (ie, computer-supported social care at home). The need for telecare is discussed along with how it relates to social and health care. The expected benefits of telecare are also discussed. The evolution of telecare technology is reviewed, covering various system generations. The capabilities of present day telecare are covered, along with its advantages, limitations, and barriers to uptake. Recent evaluations and exemplars of telecare are discussed. The user requirements for telecare are presented, complemented by a discussion of the issues in user and professional acceptance. The article concludes with a summary of past developments in telecare and the prospects for the future

Interaction with a Virtual Coach for Active and Healthy Ageing

International audienceSince life expectancy has increased significantly over the past century, society is being forced to discover innovative ways to support active aging and elderly care. The e-VITA project, which receives funding from both the European Union and Japan, is built on a cutting edge method of virtual coaching that focuses on the key areas of active and healthy aging. The requirements for the virtual coach were ascertained through a process of participatory design in workshops, focus groups, and living laboratories in Germany, France, Italy, and Japan. Several use cases were then chosen for development utilising the open-source Rasa framework. The system uses common representations such as Knowledge Bases and Knowledge Graphs to enable the integration of context, subject expertise, and multimodal data, and is available in English, German, French, Italian, and Japanese

"Maybe it becomes a buddy, but do not call it a robot" - Seamless cooperation between companion robotics and smart homes

This paper describes the findings arising from ongoing qualitative usability evaluation studies on mobile companion robotics in smart home environments from two research projects focused on socio-technical innovation to support independent living (CompanionAble and Mobiserv). Key findings are described, and it is stated that the robotic companion, the smart home environment, and external services need to be seamlessly integrated to create a truly supportive and trusted system. The idea of robot personas is introduced, and based on our empirical observations, it is argued that the robot persona, rather than the physical embodiment, is the most important determinant of the degree of users' acceptance in terms of users' perceived trustability and responsiveness of the robot and therefore their sense of enhanced usability and satisfaction with such personal assistive systems. © 2011 Springer-Verlag