Fraunhofer Center for Assistive Information and Communication Solutions – AICOSDescription:
World population is ageing. This fact has severe consequences. One is that retired people are slowly replacing working people, thus overloading public retirement programs created by governments, like social security. The other is that hospitals and care sites will become overcrowded, because with age, health issues come that require constant monitoring of one’s health conditions.
We are, however, experiencing an era of technological®evolution. Technology has evolved to take an essential part in every day of our lives. Aiding elderly, or physically debilitated people is currently possible due to the rapid advancements in the area of ambient assisted living. This dissertation aims to take one more step forward to address the health needs of a future, older society.
By creating an interactive platform, available from the television, an elderly, or impaired person will be able to access contents that will help them live a more independent life at the comfort of their homes, instead of a dependent life at hospitals, or nursing homes. Not only that, this platform, through the use of vital sign sensor, will allow its users to be at all times monitored by qualified personnel, as well as attend to medical appointments with their doctors remotely, through the television.
In the end, this project intends to extend the functionalities provided by widely available and commonly use technology, namely, a television, to help those who need it.
Author: João Sousa
Type: MSc thesis
Partner: Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto
Year: 2011