Imagining the Future - enabling technology focused on relevant technologies for the future. Kevin Doughty presented on technologies including personal computing, health devices, the internet of things, social networks, entertainment, money/purchasing, biometrics, healthcare information, artificial enhancements, domestic appliances, security, safety, transportation, data analytics, batteries/power, smart homes/cities, and discussed potential robotic helpers. New technologies aim to improve lives through remote healthcare, independent living, and assisted living.

1. Imagining the Future - enabling technology
Feedback and Presentation Event
“Relevant Technologies –
Things that we know about”
Kevin Doughty
Co-Director, Centre for Usable Home Technologies
University of York and Newcastle University
Alliance Hub, Venlaw Building, Bath Street, Glasgow
Friday, 8th March, 2013

2. The List of Technologies Considered
• Personal computing • Healthcare devices
devices • Health information
• Information generation and • Artificial Sensing and
storage Enhancement Devices
• The internet of things • Domestic appliances
• Social networks • Personal and home security
• Communication • Personal safety
technologies • Transport & transfers
• Entertainment (TV, radio, • Stratification and analytical
infotainment) techniques
• Money – physical cash or • Batteries and power
stuff on a card
• Houses and cities
• Biometrics

3. Personal Computing Devices
© KD 2013

4. Health Informatics &
Information Storage
• NHS data explosion is
happening as
governments make patient
data available to clinicians
and patients
• There needs to be secure,
individual, segregated
access for each group.
• Community care puts
patient at centre of care -
ICT services must handle
remote solutions flexibly
• All roads point to loud storage solutions
© KD 2013

5. The Internet of Things

6. Social Networks

7. Telecommunications & Internet
8
• Dial-up 7
Average mobile
• ADSL 6 internet speed
(Mbit/s)
• Cable 5
Average home
• Fibre 4 download
speed (Mbit/s)
• GPRS 3
2
• 2G
1
• 3G
0
• 4G 1999 2004 2009 2014
© KD 2013

8. Entertainment

9. The Future of Cash & Purchase
• Cash is expensive for many
reasons:
– Security
– Accidental loss
– Time needed to find change
– Easy to counterfeit coins
– Limited life (notes)
– Lossy mechanism for currency
exchange
• % of transactions involving
cash have reduced to ~ 20%
• Cheques have all but
disappeared
• Virtual transactions are now
possible using cards or NFC

10. Biometrics
• Identifying the uniqueness of the
individual is needed for many
applications:
– Entitlement to benefits
– Border security
– Linking to health/social work records
– Data and financial security
• Fingerprints are no longer
considered to be good enough
• Retinal scans are being used
increasingly
• Analysis of facial expressions,
gestures and gait are also now
relevant

14. Healthcare Devices

15. Point of Care Testing
• Other medically relevant parameters can be measured and
interfaced with telecare/health devices for remote collection
• Blood, urine and saliva can be used to determine levels of
cholesterol, glucose, lactate, coagulation, blood count, white
cell concentration etc.
© KD 2013

16. Preparing for Chemotherapy
• White blood cells levels are reduced by chemotherapy, leaving the body’s
immune system weakened
• Subsequent cycles cannot be delivered until the neutrophil count is restored
• If levels are measured daily at home, the dose can be optimised and delays
in treatment avoided
© KD 2013

17. Health Information

18. FULL-SCREEN PICTURE
© KD 2013

19. Improved Clinical Process Evidence
100%
80% HbA1c
60%
Blood pressure
40%
Cholesterol
20%
Urinary
0% Microalbumin
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Source: Scottish Diabetes Survey
Data recoded within the previous 15 months © KD 2013

20. Artificial Sensing & Enhancements

23. Domestic Appliances

26. Personal & Property Security

27. Personal Safety
• Fire prevention – alarms and water mist
• Falls prevention and detection
• Going out and become lost

28. Electronic Exit Tagging
© KD 2009

29. Non-GPS Location Technologies
• As used by Project Lifesaver
• Offers much longer battery life than
GPS devices
• But “tag” needs to be worn or carried
• Technology is actually pretty old
• Available to buy in the UK through
Caretrak.
• The basic mobile locator kit costs £500
but more sophisticated versions are also
available.
© KD 2013

30. GPS Devices to Find People
•For people who carry a phone •For people who wear a watch
For people who carry a key-ring or hand-bag
© KD 2013

31. © KD 2013

32. Transport and Transfers

34. Amplifying the Body’s Muscles
• The ReWalk
exoskeleton is for
people paralyzed
in the legs.
• It provides
power & walking
motion, but
balance has to be
maintained by
using forearm
crutches.
• A harness
around the waist
and shoulders
keeps the suit in
Rex is a robotic place, and a
exoskeleton pair of legs for backpack holds
wheelchair users enabling the computer and
them to stand up and walk rechargeable 3
using a joystick and 1/2-hour battery.
control pad © KD 2013
2011

35. Rehabilitation Potential
• Claire Lomas, a paraplegic woman
from Leicestershire in the UK, is makin
medical history as the world’s first
person to use an exoskeleton for daily
living around her home.
• She proved the capability of the
ReWalk system from ARGO Medical
by using it to walk a complete marathon
and then lighting the Paralympic
cauldron in Trafalgar Square.
• Until now, the ReWalk was exclusively
used in rehabilitation clinics with a
therapist spotting the patient and
providing constant step-by-step
guidance.
• Now Claire is able to use the device
independently, even walking up and
down stairs and around town.
© KD 2013

36. Stratification & Big Data Analytics

37. Worn Activity Monitors
• PAMSys is a sensor that can be integrated
into clothing and has an extended battery
life of more than 200 hours, that can detect
posture, gait, the number of times the
person rises, sits, steps taken and
correlation between speed of getting up
and time to get up
• These readings will help caregivers evaluate whether an alert was for a real
fall and help them avoid false alarms and measure the acceleration when
some one gets up.
• Similar products from Fitbit, Misfit and Amiigo are aimed at the same market
© KD 2013

38. Monitoring Nutritional Input
• The Bite Counter is worn like
a watch and tracks how
many mouthfuls the wearer
takes to sound an alarm
when they reach for one
handful of chips too many.
• Once activated, the Bite Counter works by tracking the
wrist roll motion that people use when picking
something up and putting it into their mouths.
• The device automatically counts how many times this is done until the
wearer finishes eating and turns the device off. © KD 2013

39. Tracking Sleep
© KD 2013

40. Data Fusion – Dashboard Approach
© KD 2008

41. Medicines Management Dashboards
© KD 2013

42. Power and Portable Supplies

43. Smart Houses and Cities

46. Technologies for a Smart Kitchen
• Accelerometers:
– Customised integrated platform
– Wireless & logging versions
– Complete custom kitchenware set
– >20 pieces: including pots & pans
• Fiber optic-based surface sensor:
– FiberBoard technology
– Low-resolution camera
– context aware chopping board
– Track class and preparation of
fresh food
• RFID:
– Location track packaged food
– Find lost items
© KD 2012

47. Portable & deployable ambient
kitchen equipment
© KD 2012

48. Activity Recognition
Direct – using a
single specific
sensor
Continuous –
using machine
learning and a
sliding
window
procedure
© KD 2012

49. Other Relevant Technologies?
• Robotic devices?

50. Electronic Pets & Carers
© KD 2013

51. New Robotic Helpers
The KIRO-M5, a compact
transportation robot that can
carry supplies, sterilize and Japanese Ladybird toilet
deodorize the air, and alert cleaning robot for public
nurses when the elderly patients restrooms
need their diapers changed. © KD 2013

52. Toyota’s Human Support Robot
• Toyota has unveiled a new robot that was
designed to help bed ridden patients do
basic tasks around the house.
• The Human Support Robot can pick up
things from shelves or off the floor and bring
them to the patient.
• It can open and close curtains and can be
programmed to perform other simple tasks.
• An interesting part of the robot is the
interface, which works either through voice
commands or by the user controlling it
through a tablet.
• A tablet slot on the robot’s head allows it to
function as a telepresence device, allowing
informal carers to communicate with the
robot’s owner over Skype or other services
• It might still look too big and clunky, but it
can perform the most important job for a
patient stuck in bed at home, which is to
bring over the TV remote.
© KD 2013

53. Baxter - the Industrial Home Robot
• Rethink Robotics sells Baxter, an industrial robot for $22,000
• By introducing a new software development kit, the robot can be
adapted for new markets including the care of older people
• Baxter has the strength and dexterity to perform many food preparation
tasks and also to take the weight of an older person as they transfer
from a chair or a bed
© KD 2013

54. Program Your Own Application
• Cakmak, a researcher from Georgia Tech, spent the summer creating a
user-friendly system that teaches a robot simple tasks.
• It doesn't require any traditional programming skills whatsoever – it works
by physically guiding the robot's arms while giving it verbal commands.
• After inviting regular people to give it a try, she found that with few
instructions they were able to teach the PR2 how to retrieve medicine from
a cabinet and to fold a t-shirt or a towel.
• Such tasks may be easy for us, but for a robot they are very difficult
© KD 2013

55. State of the Art Robotics
Towel-folding robot
Cody – personal cleaning robot
Careobot
© KD 2013

56. Other Relevant Technologies?
• Robotic devices?
• Any others?