Smart Home Care: Towards Supporting Elderlies in the Comfort and Safety of their (Smart) Homes

Abstract

The aging of the population will be a major challenge in the coming years and will lead to massive changes related to aging peoples' safety, social inclusion, and well-being. The nature of the aid provided to elderly people is already changing, with a shift towards home care (assisted living) as compared to traditional care homes. In this position paper, we highlight the need for appropriate home automation and support systems that ensure the safety and well-being of aging occupants and maintain their social links with various people around them. Existing smart home systems do not meet all the requirements and safety features required for this purpose, in particular in terms of usability, privacy, and security. We describe the challenges the research community and the industry will need to address when designing smart home care systems and lay out a research agenda that we hope will stir more work in this important emerging area.