Smart Home Setup for Elderly Care

At-home care for an elderly citizen often means care by paid care givers, nurses, or family members, or placing them in an adult care home. But another alternative exists: RiSH (robot-integrated smart home) is a system which utilizes basic service functions to detect a human body’s activity. The RiSH system and other services like it would provide elderly citizens with the independence to live at home and continue their daily routine, while being monitored in preparation for any sudden accidents resulting in potential injury. Other devices such panic buttons require the elderly citizen to be physically capable of pressing a button after an accident, but this action is not possible in the event of a stroke or severe fall. The RiSH system completes this task for them and ensures that they will receive immediate help. This is done through tracking of wearable motion sensors and a network-based activity recognition monitor through microphones and binary sensors. The entire system consists of six components: a home service robot; home sensor network; body sensor network; mobile device; cloud servers; and remote caregivers. 

Figure showing the process of the RiSH system. Image © sciencedirect.com

Such as system may seem costly, but the system requires a one-time purchase and installment cost versus cost of paying for hourly at-home nurse care. While a caregiver will have to be on call, they are only notified in case of an emergency, meaning that they are not paid unless they are called in. The on-call responsibility can be handed to any off-duty, qualified caregiver. This setup additionally will provide the elderly citizen with more independence, because they do not need to be physically watched by another individual. A smart-home setup would be ideal for elderly members who still retain some mobility and are able to complete most everyday tasks on their own. Overall, the purpose of the robot-integrated system is to provide elderly citizens with a higher quality of life at home, allowing them the sense of independence, while providing their family members with the peace of mind that they are being looked after.

References and Further Reading:

Do, H. M., Pham, M., Sheng, W., Yang, D., & Liu, M. (2017, December 28). RiSH: A robot-integrated smart home for elderly care. Retrieved February 10, 2019, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921889017300477#b24

Daily, S. B., James, M. T., Cherry, D., Porter, J. J., III, Darnell, S. S., Isaac, J., & Roy, T. (n.d.). Chapter 9 - Affective Computing: Historical Foundations, Current Applications, and Future Trends. Retrieved March 10, 2019, from https://www-sciencedirect-com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/science/article/pii/B9780128018514000094