Project Description

The tablet industry is developing at a high speed and the current tablet platforms are used by wide user profiles. Elder population dynamics and needs have been recognized by EU actions and policies but applications have not yet been incorporated to the tablet industry. The Elder Tablet will address the market’s need in this area.
 
The system to be developed will have two main modules:
First module is the health-care module; this module will be able to collect daily information from health measurement instruments (measuring parameters, such as heart pulse, body temperature, blood pressure, etc.), everyday devices (e.g., a weight scale) and home environment sensors (e.g., temperature, humidity, motion sensor, etc.) via a gateway. The gateway interacts with a decision making layer that continuously assesses the health status of the senior and intervenes when necessary to prevent deterioration of the health status, instructing actions such as to inform the senior or to send information to relatives or medical staff, if necessary. The home sensors will be wireless sensors and the medical devices will be, mainly, Bluetooth/WiFi devices.
Second module is the social inclusion module; in this module the tablet will also inform elderly or offer links to available social sources and services. For example in Turkey, these could be summarized as the services of General Directorate of Disabled and Elder Affairs formed within the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, Home Care Services of Ministry of Health and municipalities such as free house cleaning schedules, variety of courses that are offered, etc. This may be customized for different countries in regards to the available elderly services.
 
The prototype of the project will be a customized tablet pc for elders used as the front-end of the system, although back-end decision-making algorithms and data storage will take place in a server. Pilot studies will be realised. We choose tablet over smart phones because some elderly have less motor control with their hands. Since a Smartphone requires good control of gestures, it is more difficult to use a keyboard on a smart phone. If the motor control of an elderly is not good, then a tablet with a special input device (tablet pen, etc) is a better option. Older people who have macular degeneration to some degree also have distortion and gradual loss of central vision - so a lightweight moveable device with a large screen means that they can angle it to see better. This condition affects large number of elderly people.