Design of a Camera-Voice Assistant for Seniors

Abstract: An increased need for elderly care and health care is expected due to a population that is only getting older. Swedish health care is already known to be burdened. As a result, Sweden aims to become the best country in the world in using digitalisation and e-health solutions. This thesis was done in collaboration with Doro Care, an international company that offers digital solutions enabling digital telecare at home. The scope of this thesis was to explore a good relationship between a camera-voice service and a senior in need of care. The focus was to investigate how the interaction between these two parties should look by finding the needs of the user to feel secure and trust the technology without a sense of surveillance. The user’s needs and requirements were found using different data gathering methods such as interviews and questionnaires. Needs such as a discrete device and the need for a screen were used as a basis when generating concepts. This was then followed by creating four low fidelity prototypes and four high fidelity prototypes. By testing the prototypes, it was discovered that today's older adults (55+) may prefer interacting with bigger screens such as tablets. This could be a generational preference and could change over time. A combination of the three final prototypes or the possibility of choosing between them was discovered to be a good option for a home assistant. More tests would have been needed to explore this possibility further.