Objectives:
The aim of the project is to support people with memory difficulties to maintain and improve their daily autonomy. The main target group are people with age-related obliviousness, people with mild dementia and people at the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s disease. A set of connected graphical displays (the digital eSticky Notes) assists the user by presenting important information, including scheduled events, medication reminders, nutrition recommendations and useful notifications in general. All these messages can be easily posted by carers, family members and users themselves, via their own digital devices.
The development of eSticky Notes is being user-driven right from the beginning. This allows to reduce the risk of possible mistakes during designing, testing and implementing the system. The project activities have picked-up from the analysis of elderly’s and carers’/family’s needs, to define the principal platform specs. In a full and multi cycle user centred design approach (UCD), end-users will constantly monitor, discuss, evaluate and provide feedback to positively impact on system’s development, to guarantee the proper implementation, integration and optimisation of the platform. Technically, eSticky is being developed as an integrated system with a home server connected to one or more low power e-paper displays. All of them can be easily configured using a mobile app/web. During the final evaluation of the system, a total of 40 older adults will be involved to test it. End-users will also be crucial in validating the customer appreciation and acceptability, as well as a sustainable and effective business plan.
Expected results and Impact:
As a solution, eSticky displays will help people with dementia or similar conditions, supporting their abilities to self-manage themselves and live independently. The product idea is a solution easy to use, designed to relieve family/caregiver burden. Furthermore, even though it is a fully integrated system, it can be offered at a very affordable price. The use of many components already available will shorten the development time. The key factors towards a commercial development (including the lack of similar solutions) will be investigated, as far as an effective communication strategy for stakeholders and customers.
