News/Research

Interface Design for Intelligent Elderly Home Care Environments

07 Nov, 2012

Interface Design for Intelligent Elderly Home Care Environments

Hsin-Hsien Chiu, Ph.D. candidate in Architecture with a Designated Emphasis in New Media

With the assistance of a Berkeley Center for New Media summer research fellowship, Hsin-Hsien visited Living 3.0, a national research institution based in Taiwan, to learn more about the latest technologies that are being used to create smart space.

Due to the increasing prevalence of chronic disease, rising hospital costs, and aging populations, home care has become a growing worldwide trend in elder care programs. Hsin-Hsien Chiu proposes Intelligent Home Care Environment (IHCE) as a solution that can assist the elderly with physical and cognitive functioning, while reducing costs and avoiding the social and cultural problems associated with current solutions.

Living 3.0, Taipei, Taiwan, 2012
(Photo: Hsin-Hsien Chiu)


His proposed solution comprises of:
1) Dynamic Multi-Agent System (DMAS) which applies Acupuncture Theory (Chen 2000; Zhang and Rose 2001) as a metaphor/ model that can dynamically respond to ever-changing events in the environment.
2) Human-environmental Interface Design which applies Tangible User Interface Design (Ishii, 1992) and Body Conscious Design (Cranz, 2004) so that the user can interact with the environment intuitively.

The space layout of the Intelligent Home Care Environment (IHCE) (Photo: Hsin-Hsien Chiu)

Hsin-Hsien observed the way technology was used to formulate a physical smart space, as well as the fundamental mechanism that helped create it. He will take his experiences and reexamine and refine the current framework of the proposed IHCE.

He also had the opportunity to strengthen the proposed DMAS model by taking several courses regarding acupuncture theory at Chinese Qi Healing Association in Taiwan. Hsin-Hsien will use his experiences to help in extracting the ideation of Acupuncture Theory as a guideline for designing system optimization among safety, resource efficiency, and adaptability.

Falling Monitoring System of the Intelligent Home Care Environment (IHCE) (Photo: Hsin-Hsien Chiu)