Realistic and Unobtrusive Solutions for Independent Ageing

Abstract

Robotic, smart home and other related technologies that are integrated in AAL environments should be combined and presented to their users in an unobtrusive way. Obtrusiveness is a subjective, multidimensional, environment-dependent and multi-target concept that is used to describe how various technologies can negatively impact the daily lives of their users. Many of the negative implications come forward as a conflict between primary users (elderly people) and secondary users (clinical staff, (in)formal caregivers). In this chapter, we present the methodology followed during the design and development of the RADIO system to guarantee that the final solution is the least obtrusive for its users. To begin with, primary and secondary user requirements are set under the prism of obtrusiveness dimensions and possible conflicts are described. The major clash presented is the gap between individual perceptions on privacy and, reliable and sound clinical information. Bridging this gap depends most of the time on the means (sensors) used to monitor clinically interesting activities and the state of the art of the technical methods that exploit these data. The level of obtrusiveness of using a specific sensor depends on what activity is monitored as well as where this monitoring happens. In the processing pipeline that follows raw data collection, the main consideration is the type of output information (raw data, activity log, aggregates on logs). To put all this information together, we introduce a decision-making process for including a clinical assessment item in a monitoring system and we demonstrate with examples how this workflow can be followed in developing system’s such as RADIO. Finally, we discuss several actions that must be taken in the design and development of system such as RADIO to ensure that overall unobtrusiveness is satisfied. Assigning obtrusiveness implications to a certain clinical assessment item highly depends on subjectivity of several constructs. However, here we define a framework within which intrusiveness constructs should be discussed and negotiated.