The Smart Teddy is a therapeutic companion with a very basic functionality. It can bark and move its tail if someone interacts with it. It is soft and cuddly to invite people to grab and hug it. Seniors can keep the Smart Teddy as a long term companion.
Like a real pet, the Smart Teddy observes the senior citizen using its sensors. It has a digital brain that allows it to understand what the senior does during the day and estimates how much the senior citizen is enjoying his/her time. Teddy can also check whether the senior is having enough sleep and how often they wake up during the night. From all this information, Teddy tries to make an educated guess about the QoL of the senior, and inform their family or caregivers about their condition. Teddy’s sensors also allow it to detect potential dangers like smoke, loud noises, cries for help, etc. If Teddy thinks that the senior requires urgent assistance, then it can immediately inform someone so they can come and help.
Volunteers helping many seniors in the neighborhood may find it difficult to know how all of these seniors are doing. It would be nice to have a close friend for each senior that can keep volunteers updated with how each senior is doing. Seniors owning a Smart Teddy can choose to share how they are doing with family members and/ or caregivers. Our research demonstrates how to achieve this.
If you were a caregiver, imagine a dashboard as shown below where Teddy can tell you how the seniors in the neighborhood are doing. The 10 day summary shows you the general status of everyone and helps you notice if anyone’s situation is rapidly changing. Selecting one senior shows all their information, and how their QoL levels have been in the past few days. This information helps you decide which senior in the neighborhood will benefit most from your visit.
