We all want to remain in our own homes ...

Abstract

We all want to remain in our own homes and communities as we age, and wish to be proactive in our own health and wellness. However, the challenges of aging and age-related chronic diseases force many older adults into long-term care and assisted living facilities. In many countries, for the first time ever there are more older adults than children. This increase will have a significant impact on our healthcare services and economy around the world, as it is estimated that spending on continuing care for seniors will increase significantly over the next decade. There is growing evidence that technological supports can bring about significant benefits for older adults and in supporting their health, while at the same time improving the cost-effectiveness of health and social services. However, the majority of these devices have not made it to market and suffer from various limitations that make them inappropriate for an older adult to operate effciently and effectively. These limitations include the need for the user to have to learn how to use the device, effort required by the user in the technology operation, and an increased burden on family caregivers to install and operate the devices. In order to ensure that future technologies for aging are useful, new ways of thinking in their designs is required. Disruption in the current technology landscape is needed that will force the way that we think about the design of these technology to change. For example, in recent years these limitations have started to be addressed through the application of more advanced approaches, such as artificial intelligence (AI). This presentation will discuss the notion of disruptive technologies and how we are currently applying this concept is the design of our next generation of technologies to support older adults. New technologies will be presented that are built into the user environment and that use artificial intelligence to ensure that they are zero-effort for the user and their caregivers.