User study and integration of assistive technologies for people with cognitive disabilities in their daily life activities

Abstract

Abstract. The present article summarizes the doctoral dissertation of Javier Gomez.

Bath-Ambience—A Mechatronic System for Assisting the Caregivers of Bedridden People

“…Medical Care Terminal (MCT) + BED, is a system that collects physiological data of the patient and provides a remote medical interface, allowing medical instructions to be transmitted to the patient or caregiver. Environment variables can also be monitored by the system [ 14 ]. The environment for giving an automated bath was developed to meet the different demands of patients; therefore, it provides an environment that supports the patient in standing in a vertical position, which makes it possible to run a pre-programmed course of a sequence of tasks: lathering, rinsing and drying, in order to minimize the effort of caregivers [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ].…”

“…Therefore, the need to have a healthy ageing society requires major help from technology [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ]. Considering technologies developed to assist the activities to care for bedridden people, there have been several developments in the bathing area, such as improving the the environment for giving the bath, smart bathrooms [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ], bed technology [ 14 , 15 ], washing systems [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ], including the use of body sensors and control systems [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. Usually, in a domestic environment, there is only one caregiver taking care of the bedridden person.…”