The LiKeIT project is aimed at addressing the needs of a target group of older people who are still able to perform activities independently (defined as “go-go”) as well as older people who are limited in their ability to manage and cope with everyday life by themselves (defined as “slow-go”).
Active lifestyle management can contribute to increasing older people’s sense of wellbeing and level of independence. Such lifestyle management needs to take account of the various factors involved such as health, medication, eating and drinking patterns, activity and safety in order to be able to take appropriate measures to increase safety and wellbeing in everyday life. The project aims to empower older people to live more active day-to-day lives using feedback on eating and drinking patterns, physical activity as well as physiological indicators such as blood pressure or body weight.
However, the specific physical and cognitive capabilities of older people may restrict the applicability of information and communication technology (ICT) in the target group. In order to achieve high acceptance levels end-users must be involved at an early stage in the planning and development process and must be able to use the ICT infrastructure in all domestic settings, including those without an internet connection.
Requirements for the LiKeIT project were developed in cooperation with stakeholders and end-users in workshops and focus groups. The resultant system architecture takes into account both the technological requirements as well as input from the target group.
System architecture
An Android tablet PC with touch display serves as a primary interface to the older person. The tablet PC is used to record eating and drinking patterns as well as patterns of activity through touching the relevant symbols. The user is also kept informed about his or her current lifestyle and is given personalised information and tips on living a healthy lifestyle. The tablet PC is also designed to act as an electronic picture frame to facilitate integration into the target user group’s homes.
To make data capture easy and flexible, the various individual intelligent objects/sensors are flexibly interconnected. Apart from the previously mentioned tablet PC there is also a specially developed sensor box as well as a mobile transmitter, which are interconnected via WLAN. Both the sensor box as well as the mobile transmitter support radio frequency identification tags (RFID) and near-field communication protocols (NFC), enabling ubiquitous and transparent data recording. The sensor box is specially designed to record access data, domestic activities etc. This involves the detection of physical changes (opening/closing) via RFID sensors, which are located in various characteristic points throughout the person’s home. These points include for example the fridge, which can provide information on appetite, or the front door to the apartment or house, which enable conclusions to be drawn about social behaviour or activity. The mobile transmitter is also used to record health-related data from NFC-enabled measuring devices. These currently include a blood pressure monitor and a body weight scale.
In order to enable subsequent integration in specific nursing and medical care processes, the collected data is also transmitted to an internet database. Subject to the prior consent of the individual involved, service providers can then access this data via specially designed interfaces. This means, for example, that nutritional and exercise programmes can be prepared with greater accuracy or family members can be more closely integrated in the process.
Facts
- Starting date: April 2010
- Duration: 2 Years
- Funding: Benefit by FFG/BMVIT
- Coordination: AIT Austrian Institute of Technology
- Partner: AIT (Safety & Security Department, Foresight & Policy Development Department), TAGnology, iLogs, AVS
