A Smart Cabinet and Voice Assistant to Support Independence in Older Adults

With the growing change to a more aged population and greater strain on our health care services, due to higher costs and demand, there is a growing need to develop solutions to help solve this health care crisis. Generally older people prefer to keep their independence as they age, which gives them a better quality of life. Independent living can be achieved both within care homes and at home, and with the assistance of technology this can be achieved more easily. In this study a Smart Home in a Box (SHIB) solution has been developed to support Ambient Assistive Living (AAL). This paper presents a solution for an interface to interact and be notified by the SHIB platform. A usability evaluation of the developed solution is also presented in the paper. This evaluation asked 8 people consisting of management staff and a Family and Relatives group from a care home, to determine how older people would feel about a solution like this. Overall the participants of the usability evaluation felt the developed solution would benefit older people living at home.