Elder care wearable device: Final report

Abstract

Elderly care is an important area of research as a high proportion of our population is reaching old age. The current care system can be very costly and hiring a personal aid is unrealistic for some. The ASCC lab at Oklahoma State University has developed a Personal Assistive Robot to interact with elderly people in their homes. This robot can monitor and communicate with the user, but it is restricted to one part of the home. In this lab report for the Final Project of ECEN 4024 Capstone Design, four undergraduate students were tasked with creating a wearable device for elderly users that is low-powered, compact, able to monitor daily activities, collect images, interact with the user and wirelessly communicate with a Personal Assistive Robot (ELSA) while the user is not near the robot. To complete this project, our team designed a wearable device with multiple sensors such as an accelerometer, microphone and camera that would track movement data. The device was also able to exchange messages with ELSA, closing the gap between ELSA and our device. This report was written with respect to the requirements set out by ECEN 4024-Capstone Design.