Research Archive - Akademie für Altersforschung

KliMate – Conveying climate and health literacy by promoting active mobility and physical activity

The KliMate project’s aim is to promote the health, social participation and general climate adaptation of older people by means of individually tailored recommendations and social mediation formats for active mobility and physical activity. To this end, a participatory approach is being developed for promoting physical activity by means of an individual approach as well as a group-based format (café and storytelling sessions) for teaching climate and health skills that contribute to climate-friendly physical activity promotion. By increasing active mobility and social participation, the aim is to counteract the psychological and physical consequences of climate change (anxiety, depression, loss of sleep, cognitive decline, deterioration in cardiovascular health).

The positive potential of KliMate for older people lies in promoting health by increasing health literacy and active mobility through personalised exercise recommendations.

This also includes health protection, especially in relation to heat, other extreme weather events and pollen.

KliMate also contributes to the empowerment and self-empowerment of older people by promoting climate, health and digital skills.

Project partners: AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH (Projektlead), GeoSphere Austria – Bundesanstalt für Geologie, Geophysik, Klimatologie und Meteorologie, Karl Landsteiner-Gesellschaft – Verein zur Förderung der medizinisch-wissenschaftlichen Forschung, NOUS Wissensmanagement GmbH, Studio Dankl, Universität für Bodenkultur Wien

Duration: January 2024 – June 2026
Funds: FFG – Digitale Lösungen für Mensch und Gesellschaft 2022-2: Klimawandel & Gesundheit

The FFG is the central national funding organization and strengthens Austria’s innovative power. This project is funded by the FFG. www.ffg.at

Digibox – communication platform to support nursing and care

The aim of the research project is to facilitate the everyday working life of caregivers through tailored digitization. For this purpose, the communication platform “AmigoBox” of the association OSSI Austria – Open Source for Social Inclusion Austria, which has already been tested with elderly persons, is used as a starting point. The innovative interaction concept using contactless NFC technology will be evaluated and discussed together with caregivers. Subsequently, possibilities for the supportive use in nursing will be designed, which facilitate the daily work. Concepts derived from this will subsequently be implemented iteratively and according to the principles of human-centered design and tested in practice.

Project Partners: OSSI Austria – Open Source for Social Inclusion Austria (Projektlead), Fachhochschule Technikum Wien

Duration: October 2022 – April 2024
Funds: Arbeiterkammer Österreich – Digifonds

Smart Companion 2 – everyday devices as useful helpers and assistance systems in emergency situations

Based on the findings of the previous project, we are creating a prototype and testing whether it can meet the expectations in a test environment. Particular attention is being paid to the key components of fall detection and systems that can independently call for help. These include:

active emergency calls (i.e., the user calls for help),
appropriate device responses to unusual situations (i.e., the user does not respond and the device independently detects the emergency), and
fall prevention functions (i.e., the user is warned of potential obstacles).

In developing the system, we focus our research on the needs of future users, implement voice interaction systems as they are the most inclusive way of communication, use machine learning for emergency detection, and emphasize privacy, user-friendliness, and comfort in operating the assistance system.

Project Partners: Fachhochschule St. Pölten GmbH (Projektlead), Robert Bosch AG, Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund Gruppe Linz

Project Website: https://research.fhstp.ac.at/projekte/smart-companion-2
Duration: March 2022 – February 2025
Funds: FFG – IKT der Zukunft

Linked Care – continuous information supply in mobile care and support

Linking and connecting, Linked Care is intended as a comprehensive digital system to ensure a stringent flow of information and a continuous supply of information in mobile care, assistance and therapy.

The demographic development causes a strongly growing need for care, assistance and therapy with a simultaneously decreasing supply of health professionals. This results in a high workload and, in addition, often different settings such as inpatient, day-care, mobile or private care, nursing and therapy intertwine. The exchange of information is often incomplete or requires a lot of additional time. The reason for this is the lack of interfaces and standards in IT systems and communication. The great differences in the type and scope of documentation cause additional work, because data must be recorded x times.

Projekt Partners: FH Campus Wien (Project Lead), Fachhochschule Technikum Wien, Universität Wien, myneva Austria GmbH, LOIDL Consulting & IT Services GmbH, Compugroup Medical CGM, Österreichische Apotheker-Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H., Steszgal Informationstechnologie GmbH, Johanniter Österreich Ausbildung und Forschung gem. GmbH, Wiener Rotes Kreuz- Rettungs-, Krankentransport-, Pflege- und Betreuungsgesellschaft m.b.H., Volkshilfe Gesundheits- und Soziale Dienste GmbH (GSD GmbH), Volkshilfe Wien gemeinnützige Betriebs-GmbH

Project Website:

Duration: April 2021 – March2025
Call: FFG – benefit Demografischer Wandel Pflege Challenge

Keep it Simple – minimize information deficit, gain time and security

Health-care professionals often deal with adapted regulations as well as required training for their respective tasks. The day-to-day routine however makes it difficult to acknowledge the changes or attend trainings. The aim of our project is to analyse how an E-Learning platform could allow health-care professionals in the care setting to study and absolve trainings and gain knowledge in a digital manner through different interactive methods.
As a result, we expect more orientation and security among the employees in regard to the execution of the activities, but also the work-related knowledge and the processes themselves. The low-threshold presentation of information means that information gaps can be closed more quickly.

Duration: October 2020 – April 2022

Funds: Arbeiterkammer Österreich – Digifonds

Smart Companion – use of everyday low-cost robotic sensing in conjunction with smart speech recognition methods for assistance services for the elderly.

Smart Companion combines autonomous low-cost robot sensors (vacuum cleaner robots) with smart voice interaction for assistance systems. The system actively addresses users with appropriate questions and information on selected health and social issues. The iterative development and validation of the demonstrator is carried out both by a user-centered design approach together with test users and by extended focus groups. An ethics board continuously monitors and controls data protection and ethics with the aim of making a self-determined decision for users.

Project partners: Fachhochschule St. Pölten, Robert Bosch AG (BOSCH)
Duration: November 2019- October 2020
Funds: FFG Benefit 2017
Website: https://research.fhstp.ac.at/projekte/smart-companion

ReMIND – Robotic ePartner for Multitarget INnovative activation of people with Dementia

ReMIND has designed a solution that touches upon aspects like tailored care, taking the social environment into account, focus on personhood and social connectedness. It is based on the integration of existing apps, that support social interaction and connect People with dementia with their informal and professional caregivers, and stimulate self-disclosure and use pictures to stimulate memory and to evoke positive moods and emotions onto a robotic/tablet platform that contains an exercise library to stimulate physical activity.

Project partners: Zora Robotics NV, Universiteit Gent, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Victor Babes” Timisoara, Ovos Media GmbH, University of Applied Sciences – FH Campus Wien, Medizinische Universität Wien

Duration: 36 Months
Funds: AAL Call 2017
Website: https://www.aalremind.eu/

Virtual Trip – development of an application for virtual reality excursions of elderly people in need of care people for therapeutic purposes

The Academy for Research on Aging at the Haus der Barmherzigkeit is currently working on the FFG-funded research project “Virtual Trip” to develop an application for virtual trips (to nature, museum visits, shopping streets, …) for older people with reduced mobility to promote social participation and use VR glasses as a motivation for therapies and social interaction.
For older people and those in need of care, leaving the building is often a major challenge, and a visit to a museum or a trip to the mountains is often impossible. Virtual reality is a computer technology that enables an immersive sensation of physical presence in three-dimensional environments. With the help of VR glasses, realistic or artificially created environments and 360-degree images can be visited virtually without leaving the room.
The use of this technology is particularly interesting for people who live in long-term care facilities such as the Haus der Barmherzigkeit long-term care facilities, as it enables residents to visit places that are beyond their reach. Even for older people in need of care, virtual exploration of an exhibition is an opportunity to “get out” again and experience something new. However, virtual tours that are already available are not necessarily “barrier-free” for older people, because they do not have the same technology biography as today’s youngsters. Building on outcomes of the completed problem analysis and brainstorming phase, the goal of this project is to design a virtual reality application suitable for senior citizens for therapeutic settings.
With the development of this application, this project not only creates a change from everyday life in the nursing home or the homes of independently living seniors, but through the unique combination of the VR experience with the didactic preparation of the virtual excursions, the cognitive skills of the users being are promoted.

Duration: October 2018- March 2020
Funds: FFG Impact Innovation

Way-Key – mobility assistant for people with dementia

Previous technical approaches are either unusable for people with dementia due to the complexity of the operation, or they have been limited to pure tracking or monitoring functions that do not allow the person with dementia any freedom and no autonomous action.
Way-Key therefore tried an opposite approach: opening up paths and promoting mobility. People with mild to moderate dementia, for whom independent mobility is possible and a legitimate need, Way-Key could always accompany them to the extent necessary, but above all, bring them home safely, and for the right amount of exercise at the right time to care. Relatives or nursing staff are only included if necessary. The guiding principles are protection of privacy, human dignity, ethics by design, usability and non-discrimination.
In order to avoid common problems with acceptance and use, the Way-Key mobility assistant is connected to a commodity that affected persons are very likely to carry with them outside the home (regardless of gender and lifestyle) – the key to the home or house, and is therefore installed as a keychain (as usual with old hotel keys).
In the Way-Key Project, the Academy for Research on Aging focuses on evaluating user tests. The experience gained from the field trial lasting several months was be collected and evaluated in order to be able to adapt Way-Key to the needs of our target group as closely as possible.

Project partners: Technical University Vienna – Department for Human-Computer Interaction, Accessible Map Association, ilogs mobile software GmbH, TeleConsult Austria GmbH

Duration: Autumn 2016 -2018
Funds: FFG “Mobility of the Future” program line (6th call)
Project homepage: http://www.waykey-project.net/

STRANDS – Spatio-Temporal Representations and Activities For Cognitive Control in Long-Term Scenarios

The aim was to ensure that the robot can find its way in a dynamic, busy environment over long periods of time, i.e. without direct technical support. STRANDS was one of the first projects in which a robot was used outside of scientific laboratories or apartments adapted for scientific test purposes over a longer period of time – so the project was pioneering.
In addition to the necessary technical developments, the acceptance of robots should also be researched at the social science level. With a combination of qualitative and quantitative data (mixed method designs) we evaluated individual tasks of the robot as well as attitudes and impressions towards robots.

Project partners: ACIN Technical University of Vienna, Reihnland University of Applied Sciences Aachen, University of Birmingham, University of Leeds, University of Lincoln, Technical University of Stockholm, G4S Technology & Transport Systems Catapult.

Duration: April 2013 – March 2017
Funds: EU Seventh Framework Program
Project homepage: http://strands.acin.tuwien.ac.at/