Tag Archives: senior citizens

This self-driving wheelchair has detachable walker to empower the user to walk with ease

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Age is only a number until your body begins to show signs of aging. When knees begin to wear down, the simplest of tasks – you took for granted – steadily develop into an everyday challenge and then age suddenly becomes a significant number.

Life at this point leans toward dependence which none of us have wanted to experience. To facilitate individuals in considering mobility lesser of a challenge, we have seen tech-enabled walkers, canes, and electric wheelchairs in our time; however, combining the ability of all in a cohesive device, Cobi makes a sublime appearance.

Designer: Hyeon Park, Haeun Jung, Hyuntae Kim, Sookyoung Ahn

Cobi, a means of personal mobility for seniors, is designed one, to positively impact an aged person’s attitude toward life, two, to change the society’s outlook toward aged population which is considered a liability especially when free mobility becomes a task for them.

With something like the matte finished Cobi, the aged generation will lead a better, less dependent, mobile life; it’s a given! To earn such credibility, the accessory is meticulously created in two individual parts: a walker and a mobility device, that combine to form one state-of-the-art wheelchair. Even more exciting; Cobi runs without human intervention.

With its autonomous mobility and onboard button for instant breaking, Cobi is one convenient way for mobility challenged to get from point A to B without external assistance. To ensure a glitch-free ride, Cobi uses laser projection to navigate around obstacles. Provided with a cushioned seat and low backrest, the mobility device has a hide-away footrest that sticks out allowing the rider to rest their feet through transit. For additional convenience, the mobility detaches from the walker at the destination, facilitating the user to head to the areas where the ride cannot go, simply by using the walker as the assistant.

The height adjustable walker has a rubber handle that’s convenient to grip and it has a built-in flashlight to guide the user through dark environments. While the senior person is using the walker, the self-driving Cobi returns to its charging station so the person can avail the ride once it’s back in power and ready to go.

The post This self-driving wheelchair has detachable walker to empower the user to walk with ease first appeared on Yanko Design.

The Google Nest Audio smart-speaker gets its own detachable Walkie-Talkie with a touch display

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Chris Barnes’ conceptual Google device caters to the niche audience that needs connectivity the most, but struggle to keep up with technology or to avoid the complications associated with advanced tech. The Google Home Phone is a fusion of the Google Home smart-speaker (now the Nest Audio smart-speaker) and the Google Pixel), but its spiritual ancestor is, in fact, the landline phone. Designed to be a smart device with a dockable receiver or ‘phone’, the Google Home Phone lets the elderly connect with their relatives and friends who are also a part of the Google ecosystem. Once set up, the Home Phone works like a smart speaker, allowing you to ask for help, access information, or contact people, while the detachable ‘handset’ functions as the receiver on a landline, allowing you to lift it off the base and talk to people, not just using audio, but using video too!

The Home Phone is an incredibly interesting concept for a whole bunch of reasons. For starters, Barnes envisions it as a “better”, smarter, and wireless version of a landline, allowing you to contact people without remembering phone numbers, see who’s calling (via Google’s contact database), be unencumbered by coiled wires, and easily avoid robocalls (thanks to Google’s incredible spam-detection AI). The touchscreen display on the detachable unit serves as a visual aid, allowing the elderly to tap icons without navigating confusing interfaces… and accessibility features like adjustable font-sizes make it easy for people with visual impairment.

Personally, the Google Home Phone gets a bunch of things right with its form factor. Not only is the dockable receiver + base interaction very reminiscent of the landline telephone (in fact the receiver can be held to one’s ear like a conventional phone too), but its circular ‘phone’ also ticks two arguably important boxes. The circular form-factor is rather comfortable to hold in any angle (a great win for people with dexterity issues), but at the same time, dock it onto its base and it also resembles a magical crystal ball, which believe it or not, is a familiar silhouette that also cleverly ties into the magical ability for the circular screen to really display anything, from faces of loved ones, to the time, weather, messages, and even Map routes!

Barnes even fleshed out the Home Phone concept to make sure it’s a practical systems solution (and not just a pretty concept). The base sports a wired connection (so you never have to worry about batteries), and features a powerful smart-speaker that’s easy to talk to. The dockable ‘phone’ sits loosely on top of the base, with ‘no fixed docking position’, which means the elderly never have to worry about making sure they’ve placed the receiver the right way. As soon as the phone and hub are in proximity, the hub begins wirelessly charging the phone. The phone-unit also comes with a notch of its own, featuring a powerful camera system that enables two-way video communication. Not only does it mean the elderly can have video conferences with their friends, family, caretakers, and medical staff, it also enables the latter to keep a watchful eye on their elderly wards by allowing the Google Home Phone to function as a home-camera.

Designer: Chris Barnes

Toyota’s new home-assist robots include a butler who will do the dishes for you!

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Toyota’s Gantry robot is a real superhero for the elderly, but instead of fighting local crimes, he does house chores for them. Designed for the aging demographic that is often forgotten when it comes to technological advancements, this robot will take care of the domestic duties while sometimes hanging from the ceiling! People over the age of 65 make up for the world’s fastest-growing age group and we need more resources to give them the aid they require.

Speaking about the capabilities of robots, Russ Tedrake of Toyota Research Institue (TRI) says “Unlike the sterile, controlled and programmable environment of the factory, the home is a ‘wild west’ – unstructured and diverse. Despite recent strides in artificial intelligence and machine learning, it is still very hard to engineer a system that can deal with the complexity of a home environment and guarantee that it will (almost) work correctly.” The gantry robot is one of the prototypes being tested in mock-up home environments built-in labs in California. It is able to complete tasks like cleaning and loading the dishwasher. The design of the robot was inspired by the layout of Japanese homes, where researchers found that limited floor space would constrain a robot’s ability to help, and thus the solution would be to have robots directly integrated into the architecture for future homes. “What if instead of needing a robot to navigate the cluttered floor, it could travel on the ceiling instead, and be tucked out of the way when it’s not needed?” said Dan Helmick, co-lead of robotics fleet learning at the Toyota Research Institute (TRI), during a virtual presentation. While it is a huge undertaking to construct new robot-assisted homes from scratch and will have many hurdles, the design has the potential to solve many problems faced by the old folk who live alone.

The dishwashing robot is basically a giant robotic arm which shows new technology instead of being ready for commercial use, someone even pointed out that it looks better suited to build cars than load dishes but there is a long way to go before this product hits the market and there will be many changes made to it before it is ready for sale. This is a full series of robots designed to help senior citizens manage housework and the gantry robot is just one of them. There is another “soft bubble gripper” robot that uses air-filled cushions to gently grab a variety of objects, and a floor-based mobile robot with the same basic capabilities as hanging robot friend. All robots are being trained using virtual reality – real people are performing actions like wiping down a tabletop and then using VR controllers these movements are programmed into the robots.

“The robots that you see today are prototypes to accelerate our research, but they are not going to be turned into products any time soon,”  says Max Bajrachary, TRI’s VP of Robotics. Robotics is generally a difficult field and creating robots for household tasks is challenging mainly because every house is so different and therefore the smarter option would be to construct robot-friendly houses with tracks where the residents have the option of installing the gantry robot if needed. Robots can take over my world if they take over my dirty dishes!

Designer: Toyota Research Institute

These 3 smart objects remind senior citizens to take pills, read without strain and stay connected!

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There are not enough product designs that focus on the senior citizen demographic. As life around us speeds up, we incorporate gadgets that help us keep up. But for those who are much older, life is slowing down and they need gadgets that keep up with their pace to make life convenient for them. It is kind of like the fear of missing out if they don’t adapt to the faster tech, but that is the beauty of design – with products like Familia they don’t have to worry about missing out anymore!

Familia is a collection of smart objects that aim to restore dignity to seniors by making them feel less dependent and more confident. These are specifically created to appear like everyday objects with minimal aesthetics and simple UI to make sure it isn’t another thing they have to learn to operate. As people grow old they often tend to hide things that make them feel “old” and with a help of this smart clock, lamp/magnifying glass, and digital mirror, senior citizens can live without being stigmatized. Each object offers subtle functionalities that respond to challenges faced by the elderly ranging from memory loss and health issues to vision damage and isolation.

The smart clock performs all its expected functions and also features a reminder cuckoo bird that will pop out to deliver the medication which helps the user to not miss any dose. Medicines are not happy reminders and a small detail like the cuckoo bird adds playfulness that resonates with all ages. The mechanism is based on a 28-compartment wheel operated by a PCB which, by turning, pours the programmed dose of medication into the cuckoo cup that pops out at set times. Another object with a dual purpose is the lamp that doubles up as an illuminated magnifying glass that can also be used by any age group. It is a standing desk lamp that you can grab and turn around for reading because the luminous magnifying glass helps to see clearly. The final object is the mirror which is about looking at ourselves and at the same time at the ones we love – poetic and functional. “Because younger and older generations don’t use the same tools of communication, we designed an object that bridges this gap. On one side it is an app and on the other side, it becomes an automatically updated picture frame. The mirror is designed to facilitate the dialogue between family members and strengthen family ties,” said the designers.

While the objects are meant for the elderly, inclusivity is key and all of these can be used by children and young adults as well which helps to reduce stigmas around the challenges faced by the older generation – it is not a weakness if everyone has it and overcomes it with objects they cherish!

Designer: Studio Fantasio

This article was sent to us using the ‘Submit A Design’ feature.
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A simple design-upgrade to the staircase handrail allows elders to take a break while climbing

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One of my favorite things in the world is stumbling across a design that’s both creative yet so painfully obvious, it makes me wonder why nobody thought of it before. A staircase handrail serves two important purposes. It A. acts as a barrier between flights of stairs, so you don’t accidentally fall over and hurt yourself, and B. more importantly, it gives you a resting platform for your hands, allowing you to take support as you climb down. Here’s my question. What if you could reinterpret the word ‘support’ as something that’s more encompassing and isn’t limited to one’s hands?

The Rest For A While staircase turns portions of the handrail into a resting zone for people who get tired of climbing flights of stairs. At the landing of every flight of stairs, the handrail extends downward into a makeshift seat with a backrest, allowing senior citizens or people with disabilities to take a short break from climbing long flights of stairs. It’s a simple solution that, in the absence of elevators, gives people a well-deserved moment of respite to regather energy for the next flight of stairs.

The ‘Rest For A While’ Staircase Handrail is a winner of the iF Design Award for the year 2020.

Designer: Shenzhen Jinwei Innovation Design Company

GreatCall outs Samsung-made Jitterbug Plus, for folks who want a phone without all the smarts

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GreatCall outs Samsungmade Jitterbug Plus, for folks who want a phone without all the smarts

Adding features to a senior-friendly phone kind of defeats the purpose, but a sleeker design, improved battery life and boosted speaker? Sure, we'll take it. That's what you'll get with the new Jitterbug Plus, a bare-bones mobile phone for users who really only need to make and receive calls, and perhaps check the occasional voicemail. Manufactured by Samsung, the no-frills r220 includes an incredibly straightforward interface, with clearly marked Yes and No button options and large, backlit keys, including a panic button that puts you in touch with a 5Star Urgent Response agent. This latest model also adds a very basic 1.3-megapixel camera, which lets you post photos to Facebook with the touch of a button (you'll need to forgo the Instagram filters, though). The Jitterbug Plus is available now in red or silver for $99 at retailers like Best Buy, Radio Shack and Fry's, along with the company's online store, however pricing is expected to jump to $119 shortly after launch. Overall, the device appears to be a great choice for seniors, though CNET called the phone "overpriced" in its review, which you'll find at the link below.

Continue reading GreatCall outs Samsung-made Jitterbug Plus, for folks who want a phone without all the smarts

GreatCall outs Samsung-made Jitterbug Plus, for folks who want a phone without all the smarts originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Jul 2012 01:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Clarity Pal hands-on, a new phone for senior citizens

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Clarity Pal hands-on, a new phone for senior citizens

In a perfect world, your grandparents wouldn't need a lick of help getting the most out of a smartphone, but let's face it: the devices are complex, and if you don't have the proper motivation, they can be a bit difficult to learn. You've previously seen the C900 from Clarity, and tonight we stumbled upon its second generation of handsets for senior citizens known as the Pal.

Similar to the predecessor, the phone features a panic button on the back that'll call and text message up to five people in the case of an emergency. Other features consist of a backlit keypad that can read aloud the numbers that are pressed, along with a talking caller ID and up to 26dB of amplification for the earpiece. We received a quick demo of this last feature, and the volume was sufficient enough to cut through a noisy room while allowing us to hear everything that was said -- in other words, we have no doubt that the Clarity Pal will be perfectly suitable for those with moderate hearing impairment. The phone is compatible with GSM networks in the US and Canada, and for more ambitious seniors, it features SMS functionality and Bluetooth for pairing with Clarity's headset. Fortunately, the company has gone through a good amount of effort to refine and simplify the menu scheme, which is quite helpful for those wanting only the basics. The Clarity Pal will be available on May 28th through the company's website and will sell for $99. If you've got someone in your life who might need a simpler phone, take a peek at the gallery below.

Gallery: Hands-on with the Clarity Pal, a new phone for senior citizens

Sean Cooper contributed to this report

Clarity Pal hands-on, a new phone for senior citizens originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 May 2012 22:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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