Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
technological paths in the field of gerontechnology, more ambitious AAL solutions
raise specific challenges regarding system integration and the design hierarchy.
In the next decades general technological trends will foster and shape future AAL
applications. These include:
Communication capabilities between home artefacts - inside devices and -
beyond that. The Internet, which will be available in every device (the Internet
of Things), will enable integration of internal and external support systems
around a person, at home and external environments.
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The concept of web services or web of objects allows integration of systems,
aggregation of data in higher level and value added services. This creates
opportunities for more advanced support services, based on reasoning about
data from multiple sources, for users.
RFID capable devices, (including Near Field Communication (NFC),
Electronic Product Code (EPC), etc.), which will penetrate daily life.
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Increasing Networking capacity, which is enabling video and multimedia
communication between homes and the outside world.
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Broadband communication is becoming more and more available at home, but
also on portable equipment (however it is important to consider that there are
large differences in the availability of broadband in different countries or
regions and in the usage of different age groups.)
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Concepts of context awareness. The Assisted Living (AL) system may in
future have awareness of the presence of a user, location, devices and
date/time, etc. This requires presence-detection capabilities.
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The rise of robotics, i.e. self moving devices in care.
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Advance recognition of user states, i.e. susceptibilities, feeling, faces.
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Integration with entertainment devices. The trend towards standardisation
(UPnP, DLNA, etc.) and entertainment devices which are capable of
communicating with other such devices.
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Easy to use: advanced authentication systems may be developed in the future.
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1.4.2.
Technological barriers
Technology is an element that could interfere with real habits and could require
changes in their lifestyle and so technological solutions are considered invasive and
troubling. The consequence is that people remain wary of technology, and they do not
understand the real benefits that these devices can give them. They have prejudices
about their usefulness and ease of use.
The way to overcome such problems is to spread knowledge among end users of
AAL about the benefits that AAL technology and services can provide.
Besides the prejudices of older people, sometimes this reluctance is well-founded
because technologies do not properly satisfy the needs of the end users. In most cases
this is caused by wrongly designed technologies that have been developed without
thinking about the real needs and capabilities of the end users. Often such tools are so
complex that people prefer not to use them. For this reason, a design approach based on
the analysis and the direct involvement of users to identify requirements that need to be
satisfied is fundamental in order to develop technological solutions and services that
really are perceived as useful by the end users and are accepted by them.
