The FreeWalker kick-off meeting took place in Vienna in April 2018. All partners were present and welcomed by Martin Litzenberger from AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, who will be coordinating the project.
FreeWalker will integrate several proven components of AAL assistive devices and technologies. A flexible and versatile solution for guiding and monitoring elderly or persons with cognitive impairments in the outdoor environment will be realized. A focus will be on supporting caregivers by providing emergency information in order to recover disoriented persons safely. The primary target groups in FreeWalker are persons with cognitive impairment, living at home or in an institutional care setting, as well as their (in)formal carers. The aim is to promote persons with cognitive impairment to stay active and physically healthy by reducing the fear of going out.
The FreeWalker System will use GPS localization and take into account the information of the daily schedule and habits of a person to understand where the person is going. If there are indications for getting lost or becoming disoriented, different counter measures and support will be initiated. FreeWalker will integrate market-ready components of MOPAS (localization), HappyWalker (navigation) and CareCenter Software (emergency database). Results from the currently running AAL project DayGuide (a guide through tasks of daily live) will be integrated.
AIT contributes sensor fusion expertise
AIT experts are working on a flexible rule engine algorithm that is able to learn walking habits from GPS-localization data and daily routines.The software will generate “safe routes” to allow elderly to independently and safely reach appointments outside their usual living area and initiate counter actions in case the person is leaving the “safe route” or gets “lost” underway.
FreeWalker will be tested with over 150 people in Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
The consortium consists of the following partners:
- AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Austria (Coordinator)
- CareCenter Software GmbH, Austria
- Kepler Universitätsklinikum GmbH, Austria
- MAS Alzheimerhilfe, Austria
- Ivengi.com, Netherlands
- Tante Louise, Netherlands
- Vilans, Netherlands
- CREAGY AG, Switzerland
- terzStiftung, Switzerland
The project will run until March 2021. Information regarding the project will be available soon on www.freewalker.eu or directly through Project Coordinator Martin Litzenberger, martin.litzenberger(at)ait.ac.at .
FreeWalker is co-funded by the AAL Joint Programme and the following national authorities and R&D programmes in Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands.