Human Interface Considerations for Ambient Assisted Living Systems

Abstract

Systems for assisted living that support people in their own home are becoming ever more important internationally as social and economic demands change. In our research, the intended users were frail elderly living in their own home who suffered from memory loss and could benefit from prompting. We took a design science research approach and designed and built a prototype system. The system was built around RFID tags used as fixed landmarks and attached to moveable objects along with a portable interrogator. Commercially available hardware and software was used. Two system search methods were developed: history recall, using continuous object tracking and real-time object location sensing. Usability testing of the system using a small group of healthy university staff was undertaken in order to learn more about the interface between the device delivering the information and the usefulness of history recall versus real-time object location sensing for locating lost objects around the home. We found the history recall method worked well but the real-time object location sensing needed fine tuning with regard to the human interface. We recommend future interfaces include media additional to visual display and voice recognition such as haptic feedback.