Kai Kasugai

A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Ambient Assisted Living

E-health, assistive technologies and applications for assisted living , E-health, assistive technologies and applications for assisted living , کتابخانه مرکزی دانشگاه علوم پزشکی ایران

Your Floor Knows Where You Are: Sensing and Acquisition of Movement Data

This paper describes the first results on a sensor floor, which can be integrated in home environments to assist old and frail persons living independently at home. The sensor floor works with a dense array of piezo elements. Its purpose is not only to monitor the inhabitants position within the room but also to analyze impact patterns for later activation of stable rescue procedures in case of fall or other emergency events. Algorithms were developed to gain information on steps of persons in the room from the piezo impulses. The sensors are invisibly integrated in the rooms floor, which is part of a living lab (the Future Care Lab) developed and built within the eHealth project at RWTH Aachen University.

Integrated Home Monitoring and Compliance Optimization for Patients with Mechanical Circulatory Support Devices

This article presents an integrated, automatic home-monitoring, and assist system for patients suffering from end-stage heart failure, particularly patients with implanted mechanical circulatory support devices, such as ventricular assist devices and total artificial hearts. The system incorporates various biosensors to monitor the vital parameters of the patient unobtrusively in the home environment. Recorded data can be accessed online and in real time by a supervising physician, and these data serve as a means for immediate diagnosis of emergency events. The retrieved information can also be continuously analyzed to generate suggestions for medication, nutrition, and exercise for the patient to optimize their rehabilitation and overall health. An experimental environment (the Future Care Lab) was set up at RWTH Aachen University to serve as a testing environment for the development and evaluation of this novel integrated system. The Future Care Lab was not only used as a platform for technically testing the monitoring system, but also more concretely demonstrating to users the integration of these new medical technologies in a home. Thus, the Future Care Lab provides a unique environment for an interdisciplinary research approach consisting of iterative cycles of system development and evaluation of user acceptance.

Public Perception and Acceptance of Electric Vehicles: Exploring Users’ Perceived Benefits and Drawbacks

In this research, we describe an empirical study, which aimed at identifying influencing factors on acceptance of electric vehicles. Understanding individual arguments and to reach a high usage rate of these vehicles in the public and a broad acceptance, the identification of possible pro-using motives as well as perceived drawbacks is essential, which would allow a sensitive and individually-tailored communication and information policy. Using an exploratory approach, a questionnaire study was carried out in which participants were requested to indicate the level of acceptance and the intention to use electric cars. The questionnaire items were taken from several focus groups, which had been carried out prior to the questionnaire study. Outcomes show that the traditional car is perceived still as much more comfortable, and receives a high trustfulness in comparison to electric cars. In addition, user diversity in terms of age and gender was found to considerably the perceived benefits and barriers. Female users but also aged persons show a higher level of acceptance, which might be due to their higher environmental consciousness in contrast to male persons and younger participants. Interestingly, the self-reported level of domain knowledge (significantly higher in men) did not show a large influence on the level of acceptance.

Interactive Architecture in Domestic Spaces

Research in the field of smart home environments is still very much technology driven. While technical aspects like system reliability, performance or data security are undeniable important design factors, potential end users desire more than pure technical functionality favoring systems with high social and hedonic value. So far, the integration of digital information layers into the architectural environment and their consequences for human perception are still largely unexplored. In this paper we present three examples of interactive architecture for increased quality of life in domestic spaces: myGreenSpace, meetingMyEating and ubiGUI.

Aesthetic intelligence: designing smart and beautiful architectural spaces

This paper reports on the first international workshop on Aesthetic Intelligence. The focus of the workshop is on the relevance of beauty and aesthetic values for Ambient Intelligence and the meaning of aesthetically pleasing design for usability, technology acceptance, and well-being in technology-enhanced spaces.

Aesthetic Intelligence: The Role of Design in Ambient Intelligence

This paper illustrates the rationale behind the second international workshop on Aesthetic Intelligence. The workshop addresses the multiple facets of aesthetics in the design process of Ambient Intelligence technologies, especially in the fields of architecture, industrial and interface design as well as human-computer interaction.

Aesthetic Intelligence – Concepts, Technologies and Applications

This paper reports on the ideas and results of the First International Workshop on Aesthetic Intelligence (AxI’11) held as a satellite workshop during the International Joint Conference on Ambient Intelligence (AmI’11).

Computer-Mediated Human-Architecture Interaction

One of the open questions in the concept of ambient intelligence regards user interfaces to these invisible computers. If at all, how do they show up – and how does ambient intelligence in general and the user interfaces in particular change architectural space. As computers become ubiquitous or ambient, they create spatial relations towards other devices and to the place that they are located in. This paper formulates chances and challenges for both architecture and HCI.

Between Innovation and Daily Practice in the Development of AAL Systems: Learning from the Experience with Today’s Systems

In this paper we delineate and compare the functional and structural potential but also shortcomings of two Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) systems, which aim at providing remote care for elder adults living independently at home. One system, a personal emergency response system, is already in use, the other system, the Future Care Lab, presents a holistic tele-medical care setting, which is currently in its conceptualization and test phase at RWTH Aachen University. By learning from the experience with a well-established system in both, restrictions and benefits, implications for a user-centred development for future telemedical systems can be derived.