Award#0121661 - ITR/SY: The Aware Home: Sustaining the Quality of Life for an Aging Population
ABSTRACT
This is a standard award. The focus of this project is on development of a domestic environment that is cognizant of the whereabouts and activities of its occupants and can support them in their everyday life. While the technology is applicable to a range of domestic situations, the emphasis in this work will be on support for aging in place; through collaboration with experts in assistive care and cognitive aging, the PI and his team will design, demonstrate, and evaluate a series of domestic services that aim to maintain the quality of life for an aging population, with the goal of increasing the likelihood of a “stay at home” alternative to assisted living that satisfies the needs of an aging individual and his/her distributed family. In particular, the PI will explore two areas that are key to sustaining quality of life for an independent senior adult: maintaining familial vigilance, and supporting daily routines. The intention is to serve as an active partner, aiding the senior occupant without taking control. This research will lead to advances in three research areas: human-computer interaction; computational perception; and software engineering. To achieve the desired goals, the PI will conduct the research and experimentation in an authentic domestic setting, a novel research facility called the Residential Laboratory recently completed next to the Georgia Tech campus. Together with experts in theoretical and practical aspects of aging, the PI will establish a pattern of research in which informed design of ubiquitous computing technology can be rapidly deployed, evaluated and evolved in an authentic setting. Special attention will be paid throughout to issues relating to privacy and trust implications. The PI will transition the products of this project to researchers and practitioners interested in performing more large-scale observations of the social and economic impact of Aware Home technologies.
FEATURE AT A GLANCE: Technology in the home environment has the potential to support older adults in a variety of ways. We took an interdisciplinary approach (human factors/ergonomics and computer science) to develop a technology “coach” that could support older adults in learning to use a medical device. Our system provided a computer vision system to track the use of a blood glucose meter and provide users with feedback if they made an error. This research could support the development of an in-home personal assistant to coach individuals in a variety of tasks necessary for independent living.