Intelligent System to Assist the Independent Living of the Elderly

Abstract

Information technologies can assist the elderly in their daily lives and thus improve their quality of life. Here, we present a system that was developed within the framework of the EU H2020 project IN LIFE to make the elderly feel more secure. The system consists of a smartwatch, a tablet, and a web portal for carers. The smartwatch has several functionalities; the most important are automatic fall detection, SOS button, communication with carers, location detection in case of emergency, and general activity monitoring. The smartwatch communicates with the server via GSM, therefore it does not depend on wireless internet or Bluetooth connection. The tablet acts as a virtual doorman and also as an interface for the carer, while the portal acts as a central information hub for notifications, scheduling of tasks, and user overview. We present the initial feedback from the users in a pilot study and discuss some modifications that we carried out considering this feedback.