I-Corps: Safe@Home

该项目为老年人开发传感器技术，帮助他们在家里呆更长时间，推迟或拒绝转向机构护理。在这个项目中开发的技术提供了一个独特的设计视角，双重关注老年人和照顾者。核心设计理念是老年人作为一个社会个体，在一个由照顾者组成的网络和一个稳定的物理环境中生活。核心技术是一个通信枢纽，它既可以创建个人区域网络，又可以通过多个通道（wifi、蜂窝电话、固定电话）将该网络连接到家庭外部。在家中，该中心协调风险特定模块。随着风险的变化，可以部署或移除多传感器模块。这些模块生成对集线器的更改，然后根据安装过程中表达的偏好，首先将更改发送给护理人员，然后发送给社区，然后发送给第一响应者或呼叫中心。其优点包括简单和可靠。传感器并不显眼；没有什么耻辱可言。每个模块的目的都很明确：坠落、流浪或孤立。这个项目的社会和商业影响基于人口统计学。到2030年，美国65岁以上的人口将从目前的3800万增加到7200万。如果没有适当的技术调解，目前的护理模式将无法扩大规模以满足这一需求。降低看护成本的一个常见解决方案是就地养老。与机构相比，适当的老龄化改善了生活质量，增强了社会支持网络的能力，减少了医疗投诉和成本。通过该项目产生的技术将帮助老年人就地养老。这项技术的设计提供了一种方法，将加强对这一深刻的社会嵌入式挑战的科学和技术理解。

This project develops sensor technology for elders to help them stay at home longer and defer or deny a shift to institutional care. The technologies developed in this project offer a unique design perspective with a dual focus on elder and caregiver. The core design philosophy is on the elder as a social individual in a network of caregivers and a stable physical environment. The core technology is a communications hub creating both a personal area network and connecting this network outside the home with redundant connections on multiple channels (wifi, cellular, landlines). Inside the home, the hub coordinates the risk-specific modules. The multi-sensor modules can be deployed or removed as risks change. These modules generate alters to the hub which then sends them to caregivers first, community second, and first responders or call centers according to the preferences expressed during installation. The advantages include simplicity and reliability. The sensors are unobtrusive; there is no stigma. The purpose of each module is clear: falling, wandering, or isolation.The societal and commercial impacts of this project are grounded in demographics. By 2030, the over 65 population in the United States will roughly double from the current 38 million to 72 million. Current models of caregiving will not scale to meet this need without appropriate technological mediation. A common solution to decrease the cost of caregiving is Aging in Place. Aging in place improves perceived quality of life, empowers social support networks, and reduces health care complaints and costs in comparison to institutionalization. Technologies produced through this project will help elders to age in place. The design of this technology offers an approach that will enhance scientific and technological understanding of this deeply socially embedded challenge.