Because it’s important to keep mobilize and stimulate seniors in loss of autonomy, Technosens will soon offer augmented reality inside the facilities connected to e-lio.
Elders and cognitive issues
As you get older, physical and cognitive troubles can appear: loss of balance, decrease in the fine motor skills, coordination problems, memory disorders… To slow down those symptoms and maintain physical abilities, physical exercise is the best option. Indeed, regular exercise minimizes the risk of falling by 40% for the seniors. However, senior commitment is very limited as “technical” exercises are perceived as boring and repetitive.
With those observations and based on multiple studies, our teams have thought about a process combining entertainment, interactivity, adaptability, and soft physical activity: augmented reality.
AR: an immersive experience
Augmented reality is a technology integrating virtual elements into a real time environment recorded by a camera. In fact, thanks to image processing algorithms, the camera detects some parts of a body or a face and transposes them into a virtual environment available from a screen. This process allows every kinf of users to take part in this immersive experience.
Genesis of an R&D project
Those past few years, the access to Machine Learning and AR technologies has been eased to the general public. Constantly looking for innovations, we have thought about integrating those technologies into our solution.
Since April 2021, our engineering team has been working on developing prototypes of games available on television. Eric LE BOMIN, Software engineer presents the beginnings of the project:
“We already offer many games to our users, but they use memory more than motor skills. Our major focus is to maintain senior physical abilities offering them a fun and entertaining service. Through game, people are more willing to exercise. The main challenge is to find a game scenario suitable for elderly people. Indeed, it is better to focus on easily understandable games, adapted to their environment and their cognitive disorders, by emphasizing soft movement
The test
Our prototypes are currently being tested internally and directly with the elderly. Bérangère NAUDÉ, cognitive engineer followed the first time use of our testers: “The residents had never experienced AR and they enjoyed it! They found it innovative and very fun! However, in order for them to fully enjoy the experience, it is important to support them by explaining properly the instructions”.
The next step is to organized meetings with professionals on the field to gather their advice and ideas about the use of AR in gentle gym-type workshops.
Augmented reality for the benefit of all
In the future, AR will offer more than just a funny way to exercise in front of a television. It will provide for professionals an innovating entertainment support adapted to their practices. Families will be able to share moments of happiness and emotion as they all play together during visits.
Our goal is to provide this technology to all of our users by the end of 2021!
For more information, contact us !