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From the Laboratory to the Living Room

From the Laboratory to the Living Room. Work in progress bringing smart house technology for people with dementia to its intended users. Tim Adlam, Roger Orpwood Bath Institute of Medical Engineering For UbiHealth 2004 Nottingham, UK. The Gloucester Smart House.

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From the Laboratory to the Living Room

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  1. From the Laboratory tothe Living Room Work in progress bringing smart house technology for people with dementia to its intended users. Tim Adlam, Roger Orpwood Bath Institute of Medical Engineering For UbiHealth 2004 Nottingham, UK

  2. The Gloucester Smart House A project to develop systems to support people with dementia and their carers at home, with the aims of improving safety and quality of life.

  3. Project Partners • Dementia Voice • The dementia services centre for the South West of England. • Housing 21 • A major UK housing association. • Bath Institute of Medical Engineering • Rehabilitation and biomedical engineering design and development charity.

  4. Project Funding • Gloucester Social Services • Barnwood Trust • UK Government Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

  5. The Gloucester Smart House • House 31 in Duke of Beaufort Court, Gloucester. • formerly a warden’s house. • European Installation Bus (EIB) installed for automation and integration. • Night Light, Bath Monitor • Some stand-alone systems fitted. • Cooker Monitor, Locator, Wander Reminder, Night & Day Calendar, Picture Telephone, Single Switch Radio.

  6. Development Phases • Investigation • Surveys, interviews and discussion • Evolutionary Design • Based on user, carer and professional evaluation feedback. • The ENABLE project facilitated evaluation in 5 European countries. • Integrated installation • Integrated systems installed in a transition flat.

  7. Initial Investigation • An important part of the work. • With professional and personal carers. • Used interviews and questionnaires. • Carried out by BIME’s occupational therapist. • Yielded a prioritised list of design projects.

  8. Evolutionary Design • Smart house became a demonstrator. • Stand-alone devices were developed. • Evaluation by people with dementia and their carers at home and in residential care. • The ENABLE project made evaluations in 5 European countries possible. • Partners: Norway, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, UK. • Devices: Night Light, Cooker Monitor and Locator, etc.

  9. Integrated Installation • Cinnamon Court, Deptford. • A ‘step down’ flat in a new 40 bed very sheltered housing development. • Fitted with EIB for integration. • Active systems that intervene: • Passive systems that monitor and call for help • Status and alarm information available to staff

  10. Active Systems • Cooker Minder • Integrated Night Light • ‘No Floods’ Kitchen sink taps. • Voice messaging and reminders • Wander reminder

  11. Passive Systems • Integrated with the warden call system. • Simple web page presentation of system and occupant status information to care staff. • An event log is maintained. • Presentation of the log is the subject of future work. • Remote diagnostics and system reprogramming.

  12. Implementation • Work with a housing provider. • Expertise on housing development. • A context for development and evaluation. • A bridge from laboratory to living room • Work with experts in dementia care • Advice on ethics, environment design, and links to dementia care professionals. • Work with a smart house system integrator. • Knowledge of what is available ‘off the shelf’. • A link between the housing providers and their electrical contractors. • Knowledge of other markets where technology may be applied.

  13. Implementation • Maintain communications between researchers and infrastructure installers. • Housing providers and electrical contractors are often inexperienced in the installation of smart systems. • The detailed specification and installation of an installation should be monitored. • Establish regular contact with installers and ensure that electricians, etc are properly trained. BIME found that it was not sufficient to give detailed guidelines.

  14. Implementation • Establish a media presence early in a project. • Brings awareness, enthusiasm and credibility among evaluators. • Improves awareness and acceptability of the technology among professional carers. • Work with your target population. • Make sure that systems are evaluated by the people that will be using them before and during the development process, not afterwards when the design cannot be changed.

  15. Conclusions • The transition from laboratory to living room is best achieved with functional, cooperative partnerships that are established early in a project, giving partners a greater understanding of the difficulties that are likely to be faced in the future. • We want technology to be delivered to its users by high quality businesses and care providers with compassion and good business sense. We should choose early and carefully those to whom technology is sold or licensed.

  16. To End … • It is possible for people with dementia to evaluate equipment and provide useful feedback to system designers and specifiers. • Most people know at least one person with dementia, and often more. • It could be you! Let’s get it right.

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