The Smart Companion as digital support in everyday life
Digital Support for Seniors
The underlying research project was developed at the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences in cooperation with the Academy for Gerontology at the House of Mercy and Robert Bosch AG. Funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT) - benefit program, the research project, conducted from November 1, 2019, to October 31, 2020, under the direction of Prof. Andreas Jakl, MSc, focused on the development of digital support for seniors in their daily lives.
Background
Due to increasing life expectancy, the number of older people requiring more support in their daily lives is rising. Smart and user-friendly solutions are in demand. Intelligent systems can make life easier for us as we age. Technological developments, such as voice assistants or robotics, often present particular challenges for older people. However, this very target group can greatly benefit from using such technologies. Practical and user-friendly solutions promote the acceptance of digital developments. The technical design and implementation are crucial in determining how helpful these innovative developments are perceived by the older generation.
Objectives
The objective of this project was to develop practical, everyday-supportive assistance systems for older adults requiring support, enabling them to lead autonomous and self-determined lives. To realize these needs-based assistance services for everyday situations, cost-effective robotic sensors, familiar to us from household and vacuuming robots, were used in conjunction with smart speech recognition methods (common speakers and context-aware communication systems such as Amazon Echo, Alexa, etc.). Vacuuming robots enjoy high acceptance because these robots and their supportive, everyday functions are familiar to many people of different age groups. Therefore, the system is ideally suited to further developing these technologies, including actively engaging users with selected social or health-related topics, recognizing dangerous situations, and, if necessary, even triggering an alarm in emergencies.
Results
Milestones
The underlying research design aimed for a responsible approach to technologies, algorithms, and decisions to ensure optimal usability and application. Since the expanded bi-directive functionality presented challenges for the project team, ethical and data protection issues, as well as self-determined decision-making, were always top priorities. Interviews were conducted with participants, and their feedback was gathered. To increase validity, three focus groups were formed, comprised of seniors, family members, and social and care services. The implementation and evaluation of a Smart Companion Demonstrator aimed to demonstrate at least five positively or usefully rated scenarios and the acceptance of this technology. The scenarios represented different interaction and dialogue patterns and included a variety of case studies, such as falls or everyday tips.
Results
The results of the initial investigations were incorporated into a second round of data collection. This allowed for the assessment of speech interaction, the development of the prototype as an interactive system, the acceptance of the scenarios, and potential reactions from users. The system's availability, time, usability, cost, and acceptance were evaluated. Its usefulness for future projects was also assessed.