Anyone else notice how often this topic is coming up in our sphere of interest?
I think about it several times every day :) So I might be pushing it that way a bit.
>pushing
IMO, keep it coming. Besides using our talents for a good cause, there's money in it.
I NEED IT NOW ;)
Home Assistants Like Amazon Echo Could Be a Boon for Assisted LivingQuoteElliptic Labs's software could be added to an assistant device in, say, an elderly person's home and notify someone if it doesn't sense motion for an extended period of time. You could also use it for detecting motion, doing things like asking the home assistant to remind you to pull food out of the oven the next time you enter the room, he says.
At the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain, this week, Elliptic Labs will show off several demonstrations of how this works by running its software on a Raspberry Pi computer with a microphone and transducer.
The company isn't planning to build its own home assistant, but it is working with one company that Strutt won't name to add it to a voice-assistant product similar to Amazon Echo and Google Home.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603720/home-assistants-like-amazon-echo-could-be-a-boon-for-assisted-living/
>several times every day
Think faster!
http://mashable.com/2017/03/21/howz/
I like Howz
www.canarycare.co.uk
www.3rings.co.uk
www.justchecking.co.uk
http://www.welbeing.org.uk/products-services/
Put together packages including ones above, and Tunstall
Doro is looking to break into the market too
Echo and Communicating with the Deaf (Or nearly deaf)
http://www.echotalk.org/index.php/topic,1739.msg10080.html
QuotePollexy ("Polly" + "Lex") is a Raspberry Pi and mobile-based special needs verbal assistant that lets caretakers schedule audio task prompts and messages both on a recurring schedule and/or on-demand. Caretakers can schedule regular medicine reminder messages or hourly bathroom break messages, for example, and at the same time use their Amazon Echo and mobile device to request a specific message be played immediately. Caretakers can even set it up so that the person needs to confirm that they've heard the message.
https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/pollexy-building-a-special-needs-voice-assistant-with-amazon-polly-and-raspberry-pi/
Robotic meal feeder
https://meetobi.com/
10x overpriced, but a good start on solving a massive care problem
<x-post from Echo thread>Echo gets a screen.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01J24C0TI
QuoteYou can also enable a new feature called Drop In for the special cases when you want to connect with your closest friends and family. For example, you can drop in to let the family know it's time for dinner, see the baby's nursery, or check in with a close relative.
=======================
re: disabled/elder careHow To Hook Up Your Friends & Family, Whether They Own An Alexa Device Or Not via appAnyone you want to interact with via these new Alexa features must install the latest version of the Alexa mobile app on their mobile device. If they're technologically challenged, walk them through it or set it up for them.
Once that's done, you can call your elderly parent on their Echo or Dot. Your sight-impaired friend can message you from their Alexa device or the Alexa app. Alexa device owners can bypass the cell and call or message one another directly on their Alexa devices. And remember: it's all FREE.
Quoteperhaps more practical uses for exoskeletons exists: restoring the ability to walk, for instance, or as in the case of these exoskeleton shorts, preventing hip fractures by detecting and correcting falls before they happen.
http://hackaday.com/2017/05/17/exoskeleton-aims-to-prevent-falls-for-seniors/
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related:
Virginia Tech and Lowe's have collaborated to develop an exosuit — a wearable suit with lift-assist technology — currently in pilot at Lowe's Christiansburg, Virginia, store. The lightweight exosuit is designed to help employees lift and move product through the store more efficiently.
http://www.me.vt.edu/lowes-and-mechanical-engineering-develop-exo-suit/
How Echo Can Help Care For Aging Or Disabled Family Members
https://lovemyecho.com/2016/01/22/how-echo-can-help-care-for-aging-or-disabled-family-members/
That's interesting!
>lovemyecho.com
You just have an ability to find sites that is a blast from the past, eh?! If it wasen't for the Amazon and Echo part on that site.. hehe
> blast from the past, eh?
hhh, I hadn't noticed ...but, then again, I'm probably going further back and ripping it back to 1995 vintage html with browser userscripts.
I'll bet she's sold a crapload of amz aff stuff.
My wife's uncle is sight impaired and he has a viewer which helps him read, it is essentially a auto-focus camera mounted on top of a large monitor with some computer controlled enhancements. The device went into firmware update mode and needed to be serviced before it worked again -- it was a real PITA and requires a Windows computer to get it done.
If he didn't have access to a relatively tech savvy person with normal vision the device would have essentially been bricked. As I was there servicing the thing I started asking him questions about it; it turns out the device costs $5k. It seems to me that something like that should be able to be built for much much less. I could probably make the equivalent with about $300 worth of parts retail.
self-driving wheelchair
https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/24/taking-a-ride-in-mits-self-driving-wheelchair/
Full voice control of your Chrome browser via your Amazon Echo
http://www.browserhelp.me/
8 Assistive Technology Devices for Seniors Living at Homehttp://www.makeuseof.com/tag/assistive-technology-devices-seniors/
LM, there's a magnifier in there:
Quoteone of the best is the USB Dolphin SuperNova Magnifier. The app magnifies on-screen text up to 64 times — you'll get roughly three lines of text on your entire screen. All the world's most common languages are supported.
Keen-Eyed Robot Goes to Work for a Paralyzed Veteran
https://www.wired.com/story/a-keen-eyed-robot-goes-to-work-for-a-paralyzed-veteran/
ELLI•Q
https://www.intuitionrobotics.com/elliq/
They overshot the puppy goal, but getting close...
Kuri
https://www.heykuri.com/living-with-a-personal-robot
Wired source article:
https://www.wired.com/story/companion-robots-are-here
Time spent frail in old age 'doubles'QuoteBetween 1991 and 2011, life expectancy increased by more than four years for both men and women to 82.6 and 85.6 respectively.
But the number of those years spent with substantial care needs rose much more rapidly, from 1.1 to 2.4 for men and 1.6 to three for women.
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-40942531
I suspect it will double again, we've become very good at keeping sick people alive.
I hope I am lucky enough to follow a life pattern of Jack LaLanne, active, active, active, boom dead.
This thread is interesting because we're searching for a technology substitute for community and multi-generational family iteration. A few years back there was a study that found that Hispanic Americans live longer than non-Hispanic White Americans despite having less education and income on average.
https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2015/11/hispanic-paradox/414304/
Quote
What I find shocking isn't so much that non-Hispanic U.S. whites with less than a high school education are suffering in the highly unstable economic climate that has gotten progressively worse since the 1970s. What I find surprising, and what this article didn't mention, is how U.S. Hispanics have been tracking down in average mortality rates since 1990, on par with the UK and even better than France and Germany. And this despite the fact that U.S. Hispanics tend to have even less education on average than U.S. whites, and that, proportionally, more U.S. Hispanics live in poverty and with less secure healthcare than U.S. whites.
There are other major variables at work here—most likely robust family cohesion and less social isolation among middle-aged U.S. Hispanics when compared to middle-aged U.S. whites. As a Hispanic American, I can attest that, anecdotally, robust family and social cohesion is definitely the case.
Maybe along with the service robots technology will help the elderly & disabled feel more of a sense of community and belonging. I think it is probably doing that a little these days with FB and video chat, but a robust, locally focused social network would help a lot. I've seen a lot of cases of old widows/widowers locked up in their homes, having very little interaction with the outside world and waiting out the clock. If I go to Chinatown in SF I'll see very old Cantonese people hanging out in the park together, talking and playing their games. I think that daily interaction is keeping those folks alive, many of them look to be on the plus side of 95.
Quotebut a robust, locally focused social network would help a lot.
And there is the answer to the work problem. People look after people.
Young and old.
Great sense of self worth there.
>people look after people
You haven't hired many long-term care attendants, eh, Rupert? The percentage of thieving, lying, cheating assholes in this trade approaches 100%. Unfortunately, my family has a lot of experience.
>active, boom dead.
I used to chide my mom about her 'elder years' --she kept talking like everyone just blinked out like light bulbs. Doesn't happen all that often now. She was 4 years in the nursing home.
<added -Trav & I were just discussing this>
Switzerland "allows assisted suicide as long as there are no 'self-seeking motives' involved. Switzerland has tolerated the creation of organisations such as Dignitas and Exit, which provide assisted dying services for a fee."
http://www.dignitas.ch/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=44&lang=en
Quote
You haven't hired many long-term care attendants, eh, Rupert?
A few. Father in law has quite bad altzimers now, and we have people going in 3 times a day. He shouts at me as I "Stole his car" and hit Sue, so we do our best to keep away to lower the anger levels. He still lives in the community but with loads of help, and I expect him to be in a home before Christmas.
My Dad had a short term helpas Mum did the caring. A friend (ex nurse) was one. So far we have been Lucky. But yes, Nursing homes have a dreadful reputation in the UK.
Anecdotally, I was talking with Pete and Colin about it a few years back, and one of them spoke of a care home that would only allow you in if you had a catheter fitted.
And that is why more people will have to do it, not just the thieving, lying, cheating assholes :)
This is a very good idea:
https://matadornetwork.com/abroad/cant-go-abroad-learn-language-skype-elderly-instead/
Nice find.. ver good.
I bet there are other things the elderly can do if they still have their wits.... not sure I can think of many at the mo though :(
with technology:
- Teaching lanuage
voting
advice
talking to each other
monitoring things remotely
A Bit of a thin list...
[/list]
TruSense sensors help keep seniors safe at homeQuoteBy combining wireless sensors, the Amazon Echo Dot, and GPS technology, TruSense is able to track seniors' daily activities and health statistics, and send that data to family members and caregivers.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/home/trusense-seniors-sensors/
Maker of suicide pod plans to launch in Switzerland - BBC News
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-59577162
>>suicide pod
Speaking of Alzheimer's... (in the "save yourselves" thread).