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Don’t go in there! using the APEX framework in the design of ambient assisted living systems

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Abstract

An approach to design Ambient Assisted Living systems is presented, which is based on APEX, a framework for prototyping ubiquitous environments. The approach is illustrated through the design of a smart environment within a care home for older people. Prototypes allow participants in the design process to experience the proposed design and enable developers to explore design alternatives rapidly. APEX provides the means to explore alternative environment designs virtually. The prototypes developed with APEX offered a mediating representation, allowing users to be involved in the design process. A group of residents in a city-based care home were involved in the design. The paper describes the design process as well as lessons learned for the future design of AAL systems.

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Notes

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to all at Casa do Professor that made the study reported upon in this paper possible. We also thank the reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions on previous versions of this paper.

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Correspondence to José C. Campos.

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José C. Campos was funded by project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000016, financed by the North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, and through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). José Luís Silva acknowledges support from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal), through project UID/EEA/50009/2013. Michael Harrison was funded by EPSRC research Grant EP/G059063/1: CHI+MED (Computer–Human Interaction for Medical Devices).

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Campos, J.C., Abade, T., Silva, J.L. et al. Don’t go in there! using the APEX framework in the design of ambient assisted living systems. J Ambient Intell Human Comput 8, 551–566 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12652-016-0444-6

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