CARU cares

In order to evaluate the acceptance and effectiveness of the solution, a main focus throughout the project are field tests of the CARU device and its functionalities. Today, CARU is on the market and enables elderly to establish a phone conversation with a caregiver or a relative by pronouncing a simple key word. Already in the first step we will place 30 CARU devices with this functionality in end user apartments. In a second step, we will add the feature that the caregiver can document her care activities by voice as well as the announcement of the arrival time. We will then test these features with end-users in Switzerland and Austria. After doing adaptations, a full roll-out also to our Belgian end user partner is planned. Acceptance is evaluated in each phase with interviews of all stakeholders. An ongoing concern of the project is making all gathered knowhow available to the AAL-community and the public. We will ensure this by taking part in congresses, conferences and publishing results in scientific and publicly available media.

Objectives

Technology should make people’s lives simpler. CARU is a device that facilitates communication between elderly people, relatives and caregivers. It also provides relevant information about behaviour changes or similar to caregivers. Interaction with the device is carried out by voice commands, which is the most natural way of interaction for us humans. In the project, we will evaluate the acceptance of and the effectiveness for all stakeholders. Also, we will implement and test a completely new feature: Care documentation by voice, which could reduce time pressure and improve care quality.

Expected results and impact

As CARU is already commercially available, the project aims to optimize the impact of the solution to end-users. This includes the safety of elderly as well as their feeling of social inclusion and autonomy. We expect this to increase significantly by the use of CARU. For caregivers we strive to improve the attractiveness of the profession by decreasing time pressure and making processes more efficient. The new features of documentation by voice and announcement of the arrival time have a great potential for that (by saving time) and we aim to proof this during the project.

Partners

Partners involved in the project

Organization Type Country Website
CARU AG SME Switzerland www.caruhome.com
Bonacasa SME Switzerland www.bonacasa.ch
Hochschule Luzern Tand A, iHomeLab R&D Switzerland www.ihomelab.ch
Johanniter gGmbH User Austria www.johanniter.at
Fachhoschule Wiener Grafik Design Werkstats R&D Austria www.fhwn.ac.at
Schneeweis Wittmann Grafik Design Werkstat SME Austria http://www.schneeweiswittmann.at/
Senior Living Group LARGE INDUSTRY Belgium www.srliving.be
Vienna University of Economics and Business R&D Austria www.wu.ac.at
  • Project name: CARU cares
  • Website: www.carucares.com
  • Coordinator: Hochschule Luzern Tand A, iHomeLab
  • Duration: 36 months
  • Starting date: 06/2019
  • Total budget: € 2.400.000
  • Public contribution: € 1.200.000

 

Contact

Martin Biallas

E.: martin.biallas@hslu.ch

T.: +41 41 349 35 30

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