Tech-enabled Smart Walls to aid elders

Superfast broadband networks, explosion of the internet and the ever-growing feature list of handheld devices and phones have opened up many avenues to innovate for the scientists and researchers’ fraternity.

The word ‘smart’ is now being routinely used across a whole set of devices — right from smart phones to smart homes and even smart toilets! In one of our previous columns we had covered smart floors devised by researchers in Germany that can intelligently keep a track of the people and interior objects in the room.

Now researchers from Munich, Germany have conceptualised and prototyped “smart walls” which will aid the elderly in their routine activities.

Researchers from the Technische Universitat Munchen (TUM), Germany along with some corporate associates have devised a wall panel to provide much needed aid and solace to the elderly in their own homes. The wall panel comprises a tablet embedded in the wall which acts like a single dashboard catering to all the information needs of the household. So by the touch of the screen, one can get weather updates, traffic information, train schedules apart from the routine requirements of phone diary, reminders and alerts. The wall panel prototyped by TUM was specifically built for the entrance hall area and is enriched with many smart features. Some of the basic functions include the ability to sound off alerts if the occupant leaves his or her key inadvertently in the key hole after opening the door and stepping in. It is programmed with an ‘indoor positioning system’ which keep tabs on items which are typically misplaced such as spectacles or telephones.

But apart from this there are more truly intelligent features which are noteworthy and especially useful to the senior citizens. For example, the wall is equipped with biosensors which track key health parameters such as blood sugar levels, BP etc and can make suggestions to change prescriptions or automatically dialing in your preferred Physician in case of emergencies. Similarly, health service providers could keep track of their patients’ health using the wall panel.

The current unit is set up for an entrance hall. Similarly, there are plans to extend this concept to panels for other rooms too. The functionalities programmed for a wall panel for hall could be vastly different as compared to say a kitchen or a study room and so on. For example, a kitchen small wall panel may be programmed to monitor stove and cooking gas malfunctions or leakages. Or one can think of facilitating cooking with help by way or recipes being made available or by way providing a robot which can help with mundane activities such as fetching items and so on. A similar panel in the study room can be programmed with intelligent features which are more relevant and practical for the study. The wall panels thus designed boast of a modular or component design wherein new functions and functionalities can be simply plugged in as and when programmed.

TUM is an international university with top scientists and students who hail from every corner of the globe. To realise its aim of creating lasting value for society, TUM practices the open mindset of a science-driven enterprise. TUM has undertaken a series of initiatives to position itself into an “entrepreneurial university”. TUM recently unveiled a revolutionary compact multi-purpose two-wheeler at EV Taiwan 2013 which is designed with easing commute within crowded megacities.

The smart device and related innovations are a great example of the human mind being driven to limits of imagination. Smart innovations, which are the brain-child of a select few brilliant brains, will however end up making the average user more and more dependent on technology and make him or her less “smart”.

—prashant.vadgaonkar@hotmail.com