The MOBISERV project developed an integrated intelligent home system to provide health, nutrition, and mobility services for older adults. The system included a robot, smart home automation, sensors in a smart garment, and communication with medical experts and caregivers. Extensive user research was conducted to develop the system requirements. The final prototype was tested with older adults, caregivers, and medical professionals. While acceptance of the technologies was good, the testing revealed issues with voice recognition, complex situation interpretation, and safety that require further work.

1. MOBISERV - An Integrated Intelligent
Home Environment for the Provision of
Health, Nutrition and Mobility Services
for Older Adults
Bristol Robotics Laboratory
Sanja Dogramadzi,
Praminda Caleb-
Solly, Christine
Fear

2. Project Partners
• Smart Homes - The Netherlands, Coordinator;
• Bristol Robotics Laboratory, University of the West of
England - United Kingdom;
• Robosoft – France;
• Aristotle University of Thessaloniki – Greece;
• Centre Suisse d’Electronique – Switzerland;
• Lappeenranta University of Technology – Finland;
• Smartex s.r.l. – Italy;
• Stichting ST ANNA Zorggroep - The Netherlands

3. The MOBISERV System
Robot
Smart Home
Automation and
Communication Unit
Carer,
Medical
Expert
Interne
t
Smart Garment
for monitoring
heart rate,
breathing,
balance and
temperature
Optical
Recognition Unit
The main
objective:
increase elderly
people’s

4. Methods
• Integration of physiological and
monitoring sensors with a smart
environment and a mobile robot unit
• Extensive user needs elicitation and
evaluations

5. Mechanisms used for translating user needs into
system requirements
Qualitative
&
Quantitativ
e Data
Analysis
Key
Themes
Scenarios &
Use Cases
Personas
End User
Characteris
tics
Functional
and Non-
functional
Requirements
MOBISERV
functions
Observations,
Interviews,
Questionnaires,
Cultural Probes,
Focus Groups
Committee of
Independent
Living and Ageing
Experts Review

6. MOBISERV services
• nutrition assistance and dehydration prevention by
eating and drinking reminders and suggestions;
• encouraging physical activity and specific exercises
through monitoring vital signs;
• fall detection with direct communication to a care
centre;
• remote control for the home environment, including
warnings about unwanted situations;
• video communication to friends, family, and health
professionals, and
• games for entertainment and cognitive stimulation

7. Testing
The final MOBISERV system prototype and its
components have been tested in a large range of studies
with:
• primary users
• secondary users (partners, formal and informal carers)
• tertiary users (care managers and policy makers)
in various settings such as labs, people’s own homes, and
care homes.

8. Results of our studies
Positive aspects
• Good integration and functionality of the system
• Good acceptance of companion robots and
accompanying technologies
Negative aspects
• Frequent issues with voice recognition
• Interpretation and conflict resolution of complex
situations
• Safety issues not fully resolved

9. Open questions
• Abundance of data generated by the
system
• How to perform long term trials?
• Personalisation and modularity

10. Opportunities
• Modular, personalised hardware and
services rather than one complex
system
• Focus on most common and simpler
problems at the start
• Work closely with the users
www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nFZ9sUbbfe

11. Thank you