Enable project

Scope
The ENABLE project aims to produce a wearable system to support services that will “enable” elderly people to live well, independently and at ease. It will develop a system for use by an elderly person in or out of the home so it can mitigate the effects of disability and increase independence, autonomy, mobility, care, safety and communication.

The challenge-Targeted results
There is a significant need among the aging population to be able to call for assistance in a case of emergency. Although a mobile phone could be utilized for this purpose, its use by elderly people is not widely spread. Often, elderly people are overwhelmed by the devices themselves, their manuals and their menus. The use of an intelligent wrist unit with Bluetooth technology has not yet been explored as a means of improving the accessibility of the mobile phone for elderly or disabled people and this is the main challenge of the ENABLE project. Furthermore, two alternative input methods for the use of a mobile phone are being proposed, none of which has been employed before: the use of small-vocabulary, discrete-word, speaker-dependant speech recognition and the use of reasonable sized buttons for interfacing with the unit.

Objectives

• Improve the quality of life of elderly people
• Assist in activities of daily living of elderly people
• Monitor activity in order to reduce the possibilities of having a fall or other health problem
• Improve access to emergency services
• Improve quality of service provided by local social services
• Ameliorate the quality of life and increase the amount of time that an elderly person can live at home independently
• Reduce the time of staying in hospital before their return home is suitable

Target groups

• Elderly people
• Elderly people with dementia
• People with visual impairment

Expected results
ENABLE aims to develop a wearable (around the wrist) device, which will offer the following services to its user:

• A telephony and alarm service which can also be used away from the home environment
• A positioning service which can be used to locate a wondering or lost person
• A fall prevention and event detection service which can recognize warning signs for various health implications
• An environmental control service which can be used to access devices and appliances inside the home environment
• An identification and labeling service which can assist people with visual impairment to deal with small print
• A medication and reminder service which can ensure accurate medication intake and assist with activities of daily living
• A text communication service which relates to the use of a mobile phone and can assist people with visual impairment
• A logistics service which can assist people with dementia carry out sequential tasks

Pilot site
The site where the project pilot will be implemented is the Alzheimer Center of the Psychogyriatric Company ¡O Nestor¢, Athens, Greece.

Technical approach

• Management
• Investigate the acceptability and usability of the pilot devices and investigate ways of satisfying customers needs
• Design and implement the platform of operation
• Built prototypes and evaluate their use
• Set up a working group to develop and maintain exploitation plans

Other info
Visit the project’s web site at www.enable-project.eu

Partners

• Vienna University of technology-Is
• Cassiers
• Kompetenzentzwerk Informationstechnolog ie zur Forderung der Integration von Menschen mit Behinderungen
• Zivot 90
• ABATEC Electronic AG
• Cardionetics
• Reading University
• Code Factory
• E-Isotis

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