Category: Presentations

Technology show

It is already on December 12 that you can discover how older adults and technology are related.

Organized by COLABORAR, this will be an event open to older adults from the city of Porto to discover technology developed with and for older adults. Some of our latest projects related to innovations in m-health, active ageing, wellbeing and literacy will be showcased. User research and testing methodologies will be hilighted as an essential part of research and development. Researchers will be answering all questions posed by our visitors.

Don’t miss this opportunity! Registration is free, but limited to available spots. Register through: 220430347.

Information session about falls

FallSensing project researchers were at a living centre to talk about falls at senior age.

The seniors of the living center participated in the testing of this project, making an important contribution. In this session, near the end of the project, we talked about fall risk factors and how the technology can help the elderly to stay active through physical exercises for balance training and muscle strength. We answered questions that seniors posed about falls and everyone talked about their experiences of falls  previously experienced. In general, the elderly have suffered at least one fall or at least know someone who has fallen. They are therefore sensitized to this problem and have been curious to learn more about ways to avoid falls. We took a tablet and showed the FallSensing application to let them know how technology can help. We have explained that, on the one hand, FallSensing‘s sensors help assess the risk of falls and that the application developed along with sensors can be an appealing way for people to take physical exercise specifically for falls prevention. In addition, we distributed leaflets with fall prevention information that were developed by FallSensing researchers. We also introduced the digital fall book of the Portuguese National Health Service (“Serviço Nacional de Saúde”).

The session was very successful in that it was very interactive and everyone learned a little more about avoiding falls. Researchers, on the other hand, found that this issue continues to worry older people, as well as their caregivers who are receptive to new ways to prevent falls.

Master thesis presentation in the area of Social Education

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In the scope of DEMind, Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS supported a Master’s thesis from the Master Course in Community Intervention – Area of Specialization: Active Ageing, of Escola Superior de Educação de Paula Frassinetti, entitled “Active aging: the support of information and communication technologies and social support networks”. Among Fraunhofer‘s projects, the Exergames was selected, since it is a platform of physical exercise games for older adults, enabling them to stay active, preventing their risk of fall.

Troughout COLABORAR, the ExerGames platform was integrated in the weekly plan of a day-care centre in Porto. Participant observations of the activities enabled the student to collect information regarding the implementation of a new activity for seniors with Information and Communication Solutions. Then, the acceptance of the technology was assessed, as well as its usability and user satisfaction.

Finally, the student presented her work within her Master’s thesis for Fraunhofer‘s researchers. Her study is very interesting because it shows the perspective of the Social Education about the ExerGames in activities for older adults.

COLABORAR at the Festival LisBoa IDADE: International Day of Older Persons celebrations

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COLABORAR participated in the celebrations of the International Day of Older Persons in Lisbon, the national capital of Portugal. The Municipality of Lisbon organized a big event that took place at Jardim da Estrela, from September 30th to October 3rd, called “Festival LisBoa IDADE – a city with rights for all ages“.

There were 4 days of activities for seniors: healthy food market, live show cooking, gymnastics, cardiovascular screenings, presentations, workshops of security at home, herbs and senior volunteering, to name a few. Jardim da Estrela welcomed entire families with activities such as peddy papers, performing arts, walkings, workshops of tricot, introduction to cycling and ateliers of painting.

Fraunhofer AICOS shared the stand with Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa and did demonstrations of projects related to fall prevention, games for cognitive training, chronic diseases management, namely heart disease, and detection of health risks, particularly Melanoma. We showcased Fraunhofer‘s projects FCC Fall Risk Assessment, ExerGames, CogniPlay, SmartBEAT and Melanoma Detection. We received great feedback from the visitors, who expressed their enthusiasm in seeing the things we can do with smartphones to prevent diseases. Once again, Fraunhofer AICOS‘ Exergames were a huge success amongst children and seniors!

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Fraunhofer AICOS‘ director Pedro Almeida made a presentation about our research centre, the main areas of Research and Development (R&D) and introduced as well the projects we were showcasing. Maximiliano Romero, senior researcher at Fraunhofer AICOS, participated in the “Speed talks“, a space of debate, with the theme “Research methodologies in projects of technological innovation”, which was very useful for disseminate our work with older adults in the scope of R&D projects. He explained some basic principles for including seniors in research studies on technology.

We feel honored to had the opportunity of participating in the first edition of the Festival LisBoa IDADE and be part of this initiative that gave the public of all ages many moments for having fun and showed several ways for seniors keep active and healthy for many years.

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ExerGames and Active@Home at Older Adults' Day in Pombal

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Fraunhofer AICOS’ scientist António Santos traveled to Abiúl, a Portuguese village near Pombal, to present the projects ExerGames and Active@Home in the Seminar Envelhecimento + Activo e Saudável (+ Active and Healthy Ageing).

The event was organized by Fundação Dr. José Lourenço Júnior, a nursing home and day-care centre, in partnership with the Municipalities of Pombal and Abiúl. The seminar take place on the 3rd of October, inside the celebrations of the International Day of Older Persons.

Presentations were organized into 3 panels with the following themes: Physical Activity and Nutrition, Challenges for a Healthy Ageing and “I am a Senior…So what?”. Guest speakers addressed many issues related to ageing and talked about the challenges for all of us as a society regarding Ageing.  Additionally, they gave some practical examples of healthy habits and activities to stay active and healthy in the Older Age.

ExerGames and Active@Home received many positive comments from the audience that congratulated us for the innovative concept of joining interactive games and exercising for seniors!

Note: We thank Fundação Dr. José Lourenço Júnior for the images.

Fraunhofer invited to participate in the “Family Fair 2016”

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Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS will participate in the “Family Fair 2016”. The event is organized by CCSaúde – Ciclo de Conferências da Saúde, with the support of the Municipality of Vila Nova de Gaia.

The fair will take place at Centro Cívico de Gaia, in Vila Nova de Gaia, from 27 to 29 of May. Many institutions and companies in the area of healthcare and assistive products, as well as associations of patients will be present, showcasing their activities and participating in the workshops. The attendees will be able to make some health screenings, and receive information about diseases, how to prevent them and the alarm signs to seek for medical assistance. Centro Hospitalar de Vila Nova de Gaia/Espinho, Instituto Português do Sangue e da Transplantação, IP, Associação Diabéticos D’Ouro and CliniCuidados are among the participants.

Fraunhofer will showcase its most recent projects in the area of fall prevention and fall monitoring. Additionally, Fraunhofer will participate in a workshop entitled “Interactive Games for promoting physical activity and preventing falls amongst seniors”, adding the vision of innovative technology.

Day-care Centres, Nursing Homes and Schools will be visiting the fair. The event will be animated with music. For kids, there will be games, magic and inflatable mattresses. Bring the family and have fun!

Fraunhofer Portugal part of the Porto4Ageing – Excellence Centre on Active and Healthy Ageing

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The Municipality of Porto (Câmara Municipal do Porto) and the University of Porto launched a formal application of the region to the European Reference Site of the Active and Healthy Ageing to the European Commission.

With this purpose, it was created the consortium Porto4Ageing that comprises more than 70 institutions: decision makers/care providers, companies/industries, academia/research organizations and civil society/users. The consortium will be an Excellent Centre on Active and Healthy Ageing and will act as an aggregator by bringing together many institutions and professionals that work in areas related to seniors.

We are very  happy that our research centre, Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS, is part of the consortium. We will certainly contribute to the discussion of problems related to older adults and present creative solutions that could be replicated in other regions of Portugal and Europe.

The official ceremony of presentation of the proposal to the European Commission took place on April 11st, in Porto, and many institutions were present.

ChefMyself amongst the finalists of the Innova eVIA awards 2015

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On November 4 and 5, ChefMyself participated in the 2015 eVIA assembly, an annual event organized by eVIA, a Spanish Technology Platform for Health and Active and Independent Life.

The event related to the 2015 awards comprised an exhibition and an award ceremony. The award acknowledged innovative prototypes in the field of Information and Communication Solutions applied to Health, Accessibility and Active and Independent Life. The event took place in Madrid, Spain, and ChefMyself was one of the finalists of the Innova eVIA awards 2015, which makes the COLABORAR team happy, as the many interviews and tests with real users helped to optimize the design of the system and we enjoy seeing that this good work is recognized.

ChefMyself was presented to many people with interests in the field of technologies for health, such as representatives of other R&D units, companies and end-user organizations and got very positive feedback.

Congratulations to the ChefMyself team! Learn more about ChefMyself over here.

Fraunhofer's projects at the AAL Forum 2015 in Belgium

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Fraunhofer’s projects were displayed at the AAL Forum 2015, an annual event that gathers Information and Communication Technologies scientists, representatives of the End-user institutions, companies and the public in general interested in new technologies for the promotion of well-being for seniors and people with some disabilities.

This year, the fair takes place in Ghent, in Belgium and the Fraunhofer’s projects highlighted are ChefMyself, SmartBEAT (management of heart failure in older adults) and Kneegraphy.  ChefMyself are displaying its kitchen robot and tablet, with live cooking sessions. Plus, there are Flyers of other projects: ExerBalance, mActivityClassify, EzNav, NeuropathyDetect, SmartCompanion, ANIEPIL (in the area of nutrition), COPDHelper (management of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and EyeFundusScope (related to diabetic retinopathy). Sharing the booth with Fraunhofer is Gociety, who have just won an award for Excellent Smart Health Innovation.

COLABORAR could not miss the opportunity to present itself as the largest network of senior co-developers in Europe, as it reunites more than 400 users, over 40 partner institutions and carried out over 1500 design & research activities with seniors and health and social professionals.

We give you a sneak peek of the AAL Forum 2015.

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Citizens from Coimbra already know the Exergames and the FCC – Fall Risk Assessment

From 20th to 26th of April, Fraunhofer AICOS was at Semana das Ciências Aplicadas à Saúde, at Dolce Vita, in Coimbra. Using the application for smartphone named FCC – Fall Risk Assessment, we did several fall risk evaluations of seniors. Furthermore, visitants had the chance of trying out the Exergames, an application of serious games for fall prevention.

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People who attended the fair could also pick up our flyers with tips to prevent falls. In this way, we contributed to increase the awareness about seniors’ falls and we showcased our projects that aim to contribute to the evaluation of one’s fall risk and the exercises that can prevent falls through technology.

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