Robots in assisted living environments as an unobtrusive, efficient, reliable and modular solution for independent ageing: The radio perspective

Abstract

Demographic and epidemiologic transitions in Europe have brought a new health care paradigm where life expectancy is increasing as well as the need for long-term care. To meet the resulting challenge, European healthcare systems need to take full advantage of new opportunities offered by technical advancements in ICT. The RADIO project explores a novel approach to user acceptance and unobtrusiveness: an integrated smart home/assistant robot system where health monitoring equipment is an obvious and accepted part of the user’s daily life. By using the smart home/assistant robot as sensing equipment for health monitoring, we mask the functionality of the sensors rather than the sensors themselves. In this manner, sensors do not need to be discrete and distant or masked and cumbersome to install; they do however need to be perceived as a natural component of the smart home/assistant robot functionalities.