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The use case targets independent living at home of older adults, 65+. We piloted both medium and high complexity interventions: 1) a combination of smartwatches and digital coaching apps for “social recommendations” against loneliness and 2) domestic robotics for supporting daily living activities.
Many older adults live with chronic conditions and have to manage several treatments. A common outcome is a significant decline in quality of life and mental health. We looked into solutions that could support extending an independent life for older adults living alone with a chronic condition, in particular by addressing the challenges associated with the deterioration of social relations and community engagement and the consequent risk of loneliness.
The challenge was broken down into two tasks:
1) Facilitating maintaining a healthy level of socialisation through digital coaching recommendations about simple, actionable daily social exercises
2) Mitigating risks of living independently with mild mental health conditions through the deployment of a robotic solution able to identify domestic risks and providing assistance in finding objects of daily living, such as keys, medications or spectacles
The first task was accomplished through a digital coaching app monitoring physical activity and sleep as proxies for general well-being. The app generated personalised “social recommendations” daily, a simple exercise aimed at retaining a healthy level of social engagement, reducing the risk of long-term loneliness associated with the development of mental health conditions.
The second task was addressed using two robotic platforms, a Pal Tiago and a Turtlebot. The robotic platforms were tasked to explore the environment in search of trip hazards, like objects left in the way, and identify common objects of daily living to provide indications in case of need. The task aimed at mitigating common domestic risks and struggles in relation…
The development process was supported by several co-creation workshops and focus groups involving citizens and community caregivers. The interventions were also co-designed with geriatric medicine specialists and piloted with citizens for 3 months (task 1) and through experiments in simulated and real homes (task 2).
