Keep an eye on dad

ELECTRONIC photo frames that display read-outs of an elderly relative's health and well-being are under development at a laboratory in Atlanta, Georgia. The aim is to allow older people to live more independent lives.

Old and infirm people who live alone are a worry for their children, says Elizabeth Mynatt, a researcher in the Everyday Computing Laboratory at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Yet alternatives such as moving into a care home may leave the elderly even worse off. "Disadvantages include high cost, separation from the local community, less privacy and control of one's daily activities, and often depression," says Mynatt. "A growing number of ageing adults are strongly interested in maintaining an independent lifestyle."

So Mynatt and her team have come up with a system that lets people see at a glance how an elderly relative is faring. She will present details at the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (www.acm.org/sigchi/chi2001) in Seattle later this month.

In the Georgia Tech system, sensors rigged to doors and furniture monitor the elderly person's activity. "At the moment we're using simple contact sensors to detect when cabinets, drawers and other items are in use," Mynatt says. "These sensors give us a rough idea of activity in the kitchen, as well as a sense of what the person is doing, like getting food from the refrigerator." The sensors are linked wirelessly to the Internet.

To display the information, Mynatt is developing a novel "digital family portrait". It comprises a flatscreen display shaped like a picture frame with a JPEG photo of the subject in the middle. Animated icons displayed around the frame are used to highlight different facets of the subject's activity.

Fluttering butterfly icons show how active the person is: the more they are doing, the bigger the butterflies get. Touching the screen gives more detailed information.

Annelies van Bronswijk, who develops technology for older people at the Technical University of Eindhoven in the Netherlands, says other sensors could be included. "Older people don't get as thirsty, so they can get dehydrated without knowing it," she says. "You could have sensors in the toilet bowl that measure your hydration."

But she warns that only essential information should be sent out of the elderly person's house. Otherwise a 24-hour watch will very quickly make them lose their psychological independence," she says.

New Scientist issue: 3rd March 2000

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