People with dementia can live in a ‘smart home’ in the future. It is a house full of digital gadgets that help people with dementia, for example, to get up on time and get dressed. Or to eat. The house is currently being developed by Eindhoven University of Technology (TU / e).
An enormous cheese sandwich is projected on the wall. The loudspeakers say: “Don’t forget to eat!” Arrows on the floor light up and point to the kitchen. All these signals and stimuli are intended to get someone with dementia to eat.
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TU / e professor Masi Mohammadi came up with the idea. “It is difficult for people with dementia to keep track of their daily pattern. How can the living environment become a kind of informal caregiver? How can the house take care of someone? This house accompanies the resident in daily life. This house supports ”, she says.
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All kinds of digital gadgets help people with dementia:
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The ultimate goal is that elderly people with dementia continue to live independently for longer. The idea of the Eindhoven professor is appealing because several universities in Europe are now participating. Even universities in Japan.
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Here in the Netherlands a test house has been built with all kinds of applications. It must be tested by people with dementia. “We then get to work with their findings. We are on the way to the answer so that it is not just a dream. ”
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Bert van der Does does not have dementia, but he is elderly at 88. He tries out the house and thinks the clues are helpful in steering someone in the right direction.
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“It is very careful. If something is not one hundred percent right, it will not come through. I was looking at the cheese sandwich. Then I think: where is that cheese sandwich? I don’t think of an arrow on the floor behind me pointing to the kitchen. That arrow should then be in front of me. ”
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Aalst does not stop at a house. There should even be one smart residential area come. The professor is also involved in this. The techniques that are now used in the test house will also be used in the neighborhood.
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Professor Mohammadi: “We don’t want to lock people with dementia in a house. They have to walk and look around the neighborhood. Signals appear on the street, such as arrows, that guide seniors. We are making a digital fence so that they know they cannot go any further. ”
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She expects the end result to be adopted in many countries. “We are now working on this in Germany, Denmark and even Japan,” she says with a big laugh. “And it was conceived in Eindhoven.”
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