What’s new in AgeTech: exploring IFA
This September IFA Berlin show, the largest event in the world of consumer electronics, was a good place to find something interesting for elders.
At the trade show you’re drowning in the flow of 8K TVs, folding and unbreakable smartphones, more powerful laptops and countless wireless headphones and a lot of other gadgets and home appliances, so agetech is in the shadow. But let’s try to look at the bright side — it was there. Some things have been seen previously on CES, but there were some new ones.
Robot as an assistant
The premiere at IFA was organized by German Medisana and American Temi. The robot belongs to the category of so-called care robots, so it is designed to help with caring for an elderly. Temi is responsible for the robot’s manufacturing and is a rather interesting company itself— the Israeli founder, Chinese investors, robots for the army and pivot for a personal robot that received a lot of prizes and on sale in US for $1999. The robot is controlled by voice or from the application, can put video and music, plays games, move around the house etc.
New at IFA and the role of Medisana was to fill the robot with services and customize interface for the older generation. Services include health monitoring capability, Bosch emergency assistant function, emergency call functions and future tele-medical functions/cooperation.
As people at Medisana explained, there were tests by elders, feedback was great, but depending on individual digital experience and capabilities some people require a first introduction to voice assistants. Some just need to be encouraged to try certain features — especially the follow me mode was easily understood and used right away.
It will be possible to find whether this robot will become a hit in a year, when sales results appear on the European market. Probably, as they say in the company, in 2020 the robot may appear in Russia.
Robot as a table
German startup Varomo chose the segment of elderly care as a field for creating a robot too. Their CAREcules model also has a set of sensors, AI, accurate home navigation, follow me mode, but the aim is different. Startup calls its product a robotic solution for home logistics. If you look at the photo, you can see that this is a “smart table”.
The role of the robot is to move the necessary items to an elderly person. It could be hard for elderly to move around the house, and even harder to do that with a load. So that’s the real problem to be solved. But in this case, the demand for the device with EUR3,000 price is very difficult to assess. However, the company sees some prospects in B2B segment, where the robot could help caregivers in nursing homes or home care.
Robot as a toy (or as a tail)
The device by Korean Circulus looks like a typical toy robot. Pibo belongs to the category of social robots, and one of the key problems of the older generation is social isolation / loneliness. The robot takes photos and records messages, shares it with relatives and friends, and also supports a basic conversation.
It’s hard not to mention the Qoobo robot from the Japanese Yunkai Engineering, which no one at IFA managed to ignore. First, it looks like a furry purring pillow with a tail that responds to stroking, and second, it’s just for an elder audience. Not everyone can have a pet and look after it, and a robot (about $ 120) can help improve mood and fight stress/depression.
Avatars and sensors
Bigger approach involves the use of technology to create aging in place environment through smart home. There was entire smart living section at IFA. ABB presented its open API platform for managing a smart home, it is noteworthy that this was done precisely in the context of using by elders.
The main issue in this case is the interface comfortable for an elder user. The virtual assistant, which was developed by a My Life, My Way consortium of several European companies , is responsible for this part. They tested the app for several years, and their digital avatar named Anne is presented as best interface option to control smart home devices, be in touch with loved ones, use telehealth and care services. The presentation at IFA was about the pilot in Switzerland used to to prove that the virtual assistant plus smart home platform could really help elder residents to live in comfort and maintain daily routines in a healthy and supportive way.
Israeli Vayyar is manufacturing 4D imaging sensors, which have received a lot of media attention as something that can “see through walls.” To care for the elderly, the company offers the Walabot Home device ($ 100–120). Its main purpose is to track changes in behavior patterns and report abnormalities. As most common case of problems that the elderly face is a fall, Walabot is useful as an automatic solution which helps in case of such emergency.
Another approach to the sensors implementation was used in the “smart chair pad” by German startup Visseiro. Here the sensors take data when an elder person is sitting, which is convenient for an aging audience. Now the range of vital signs measured includes heart rate, heart rate variability, rate and amplitude of respiration. Visseiro’s founder Pirmin Kelbel said that they made intense testing with elderly people at home as the home application is their major focus:“We experienced an extremely high adherence with our device. Compared to wearables (8% adherence) we gained 95%”.
Let’s mention two other interesting agetech solutions. There was a DFree (as for diaper-free) device determining the need to go to the toilet — sensors use ultrasound to monitor the bladder, send notification to user or to a caregiver. Lindera app is emerging from the world of healthtech and is certified medical product — it analyzes the likelihood of an elder person falling. App is using video of person’s movements taken by a smartphone, some test questions and AI.
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