Project Details

Background and research interest

An important goal of technological development is to support people throughout their lives and especially in old age. Intelligent systems that attempt to recognise obstacles that their users face in everyday activities and provide assistance in overcoming these obstacles come into play here.

The challenges that arise from this are, on the one hand, that the technical systems usually only have implicit, ad-hoc knowledge of the obstacles that an individual elderly person may face and how the technical system can optimally support this person. In addition, testing technical systems and analysing the effects of age-related obstacles is often difficult, time-consuming and cost-intensive in terms of the number of possible observations. These challenges can be met with virtual reality (VR) technology, as it can be used to simulate realistic environments in which people carry out activities, thus enabling the effects of various obstacles to be analysed quickly and safely.

The project will therefore investigate how important age-related obstacles relating to cognition, perception or motor skills of older people can be structured and formalised to influence their behaviour in everyday activities. Secondly, whether a VR environment can be modified to simulate the effects of specific age-related obstacles in a kitchen environment?

Methodological approach

The structuring and formalisation of age-related obstacles is based on a literature review and a survey of a random sample of older people on their limitations in everyday activities in the kitchen. Based on the results, various age-related limitations such as visual impairment, loss of reaction time or shaky hands are simulated with VR when carrying out selected activities in a kitchen environment. Data from participants who are hindered by simulated obstacles during everyday activities, such as setting the table, are recorded and analysed.

Objectives

The creation of the ontology provides a basis for further research into everyday activities using technological systems. In addition, the project provides initial results on movement and context data of selected interactions with existing restrictions in everyday activities of older people, which are to be further investigated in larger-scale studies and can reveal potential for interventions.