Johannes Oberzaucher

Tablets for Seniors – An Evaluation of a Current Model (iPad)

Internet usage in Austria varies between age groups in a way that only about 30% of older users above 60 have access to Internet services compared to nearly 100% in the age group between 14 and 30. This digital divide exists because of technical, social and economical barriers that affect especially older users. Weather or not current tablets have the potential to minimize these barriers was the central question behind the usability study described in this paper. The study undertaken involved 11 seniors (60+) and targeted to evaluate the general usability and acceptance of a selected tablet. The results of the study show high acceptance and satisfaction rates among the user group and hence suggest a future focus on the development of tablet based applications for seniors as well as initiatives to conquer the information demand of the target group.

Evaluation of a Small Socially-Assistive Humanoid Robot in Intelligent Homes for the Care of the Elderly

The ageing population phenomenon is pushing the design of innovative solutions to provide assistance to the elderly. In this context a socially–assistive robot can act as a proactive interface in a smart-home environment, providing multimodal communication channels and generating positive feelings in users. The present paper reports results of a short term and a long term evaluation of a small socially assistive humanoid robot in a smart home environment. Eight elderly people tested an integrated smart–home robot system in five real–world scenarios. Six of the participants experienced the system in two sessions over a two week period; the other two participants had a prolonged experience of eight sessions over a three month period. Results showed that the small humanoid robot was trusted by the participants. A cross–cultural comparison showed that results were not due to the cultural background of the participants. The long term evaluation showed that the participants might engage in an emotional relationship with the robot, but that perceived enjoyment might decrease over time.

A Videophone Prototype System Evaluated by Elderly Users in the Living Lab Schwechat

Elderly people often experience difficulties in using modern Information and Communication Technologies. This paper presents findings of an evaluation and a field test of a touch screen based internet videophone system mounted in a wooden frame in order to provide a non technical appearance. During a 14-day lasting field test in real-life environment the goal was to evaluate if and to what extent the elderly participants would benefit from using such a modern multimodal way of communication. Four prototype systems were installed in four private homes and were tested successfully by six persons. It was found that the elderly users actually benefited from the touchscreen control, the proportionally large-scale GUI and the VoIP-and video-telephone functions. Despite the small scale of the evaluation the gathered data demonstrates the potential this technology might have in daily life in particular for the emerging ambient assisted living (AAL) area.

Development of a Wearable Measurement System to Identify Characteristics in Human Gait - eSHOE -

Measurement and interpretation of human ambulation offers great opportunities for several fields in AAL. In this paper CEIT RALTECs ongoing development of a wearable measurement system, integrated in a conventional walking shoe, is presented. By combining different kinds of sensors in a sensor network, several characteristic parameters of the human ambulation can be measured. Extensive sensor data fusion and interpretation is used to extract significant features, which will be used for inference purposes. Beside the pure technical development a main goal during the design process is the deployment of an user centred approach. Whereas potential elderly users as well as medical experts and care takers are involved during the whole development process, with the goal of delivering a close-to-market prototype at the end of the project.

Assessment test framework for collecting and evaluating fall-related data using mobile devices

With an increasing population of older people the number of falls and fall-related injuries is on the rise. This will cause changes for future health care systems, and fall prevention and fall detection will pose a major challenge. Taking the multimodal character of fall-related parameters into account, the development of adequate strategies for fall prevention and detection is very complex. Therefore, it is necessary to collect and analyze fall-related data. This paper describes the development of a test framework to perform a variety of assessment tests to collect fall-related data. The aim of the framework is to easily set up assessment tests and analyze the data regarding fall-related behaviors. It offers an open interface to support a variety of devices. The framework consists of a Web service, a relational database and a Web-based backend. In order to test the framework, a mobile device client recording accelerometer and gyroscope sensor data is implemented on the iOS platform. The evaluation, which includes three mobility assessment tests, demonstrates the sensor accuracy for movement analysis for further feature extraction.

Use Case Focused User-Interaction Diagram: A Communication Tool within AAL Projects

The modeling of user interaction in the context of Active and Assisted Living (AAL) projects requires the involvement of different stakeholder groups to achieve usable and acceptable results. Within the research project ZentrAAL a comprehensive participatory approach is deployed, to achieve the goal of a user driven conceptualization, development, and evaluation process. Within this process, the modeling of the user interface and interaction, based on defined use cases is performed by means of various methods. The proposed concept contains an interaction schema that represents elements of the human -- system interface, e.g. navigation, dimensions of use cases, interaction and information elements as well as element labels depicted in one view per use case. The interaction schema acts as a communication tool during the user interaction conceptualization phase in AAL projects. First outcomes of the conceptualization of the use case focused interaction diagram are the improvement of interdisciplinary communication, easy derivation of interface prototypes, and additional point of view for stakeholders in a project.

Elektronische Hilfsmittel für diagnostische Zwecke – aktuelle Ansätze und zukünftige Herausforderungen

Der Prozess des Alterns ist von verschiedenen Faktoren abhangig und kann als – wenn auch hochkomplexes – multifaktorielles Geschehen beschrieben werden, das Auswirkungen auf physische, kognitive, aber auch soziale Fahigkeiten zeigt. Insofern ist die moglichst fruhzeitige Erfassung oft pathologischer Veranderungen im Sinne einer Diagnose ein wesentlicher Faktor der Alternspravention und -rehabilitation.