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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CAPTAIN (Coach Assistant via Projected and Tangible Interface)

Teaser

Summary

The Captain project is funded by the European Commission Horizon2020 programme under the topic on â€œPersonalised coaching for well-being and care of people as they ageâ€ in the period 2017-2020. It aims to develop and validate useful and easy to use ICT tools for empowering and motivating people in need of guidance and care. It proposes a technology designed to turn the home of an older adult into a ubiquitous assistant introducing home augmented reality using interactive and tangible interfaces. To achieve this, CAPTAIN fosters a user-centered co-design methodology which is based on constant involvement of older adults (the Captain Stakeholdersâ€™ Community) in the design, development and testing stages.
Older adults will benefit from the creation of effective contextualised assistance in their home environment forming a virtual coach who is stimulating and enhancing elderly capabilities. This coach will act as a constant, vigilant and pleasant companion, ubiquitously present, that provides contextualised advice to help preserving elderly mental and physical, cognitive and social well-being. The participatory design process adopted in Captain harnesses the expertise of all levels of the stakeholder ecosystem in order to deliver an effective tool for people in need of guidance and care due to age related conditions.

Work performed

The CAPTAIN project has been designed to develop and validate useful and easy to use radically new ICT based concepts and approaches for empowering and motivating people in need of guidance and care due to age related conditions. One of the first tasks in CAPTAIN was the creation of a network of loyal stakeholders and users coming from the pilot partnerâ€™s living lab networks. This board has already been actively engaged in the many co-creation sessions during M1-M18 and it is expected to follow the projectâ€™s evolution until the end of the project. Being the main source of requirements collection on the CAPTAIN system, their contribution involves feedback on every new release, data collection and new ideas.
In order to increase the transparency and communication among the technical and pilot partners a clear methodology (modified version of SCRUM) has been defined and followed. The series of Sprints (slightly different from the one used in the software development, but applicable as concept in this methodology) is the main event. Captain Sprints last for some 3-4 months and include as outcome the functional state of a product released version, while agile requirements elicitation and agile development enable the researchers to elicit detailed requirements up front, or when needed.
During this first reporting period, numerous issues regarding ethics had to be considered given the continuous data collection in living labs. Ethical applications were submitted, approvals were obtained, GDPR regulation was taken into account.
The hardware prototype and software development has also started. CAPTAIN introduced a couple of new (i.e. not off-the-self) devices and the first prototypes of CAPTAIN were designed and manufactured by partners. At the same time the consortium started working on the implementation of non-invasive and environment sensing algorithms which will be improved by additional datasets collected. The design and development of the coach behaviour was initiated and a coaching (behaviour changing) framework has been established as the guideline for all the different guidance components. The framework for assessing the CAPTAIN system, in terms of the user requirements/stories and expectations that will lead to a proof of concept of this radically new Human Computer Interaction Approach (HCIA) has been analyzed within the Interim Period.
All Captain tasks related to dissemination, awareness and exploitation have started within the first reporting period. A lot of activities for increasing awareness of the general public and policy makers as well as the scientific community have taken place successfully.

Final results

The main innovation potential of CAPTAIN lays in its multidisciplinary approach which leverages on a variety of state of the art technologies or methodologies such as artificial intelligence, projective interfaces, augmented reality, 3D sensing, deep learning, context and emotion detection, to name but a few.
CAPTAIN goes beyond usual participatory design and requirement elicitation techniques by applying agile requirements elicitation and development methodologies through participatory design throughout the lifecycle process of the development. The CAPTAIN Stakeholdersâ€™ community, consisting of those who will actively use CAPTAIN (older adults and their caregivers), and those who can give suggestions (service providers, nursing home management and patient associations), is the only source of requirements throughout the projectâ€™s lifecycle, playing an important and substantial role of co-designers and co-creators. CAPTAIN\'s methodology (combination of Design Thinking, Lean Startup and a modified SCRUM agile framework) is specially designed to support the peculiarities of distributed and multidisciplinary teams, such the ones collaborating in consortia of European funded projects. As this approach goes beyond the state of the art in similar projects, an evaluation tool has been designed to provide the value of this approach when applied in the H2020 funded CAPTAIN project.
Another domain where CAPTAIN brings innovation is the minimum intrusiveness of the technology. The main objective of CAPTAIN is to leave the environment as a cosy place for the older adults, without intervening too much, unless a coaching activity is required. Aligned with this, no wearable devices are used, not even tableÏ„s or smartphones. The main monitoring device is a depth sensor, converting the indoor environment into a large tangible interface. The interaction with the system is delivered through projection systems (both of them designed and manufactured within the project\'s lifecycle).
The way the CAPTAIN system is designed is expected to conclude to a system that the targeted user group will like to use. Focusing on nutrition, physical exercise and socialization, the CAPTAIN system is designed to support not only vulnerable older adults but also healthy ones.
The potential cost-effectiveness assessment will be centred on the paradigm of the revenue-enhancing activities instead of cost-cutting activities by developing a solution that better meet consumer needs due to enhanced self-care, life-style and care management. To evaluate the cost-effectiveness as well as the CAPTAIN as a product in a realistic environment, the project has already selected a pilot site where the system will be introduced at the later stages, in the form of the final product.
In addition, CAPTAIN challenges traditional skepticism or fear about sensing behavioral data can be sensed, by leveraging on the powerful effect of â€œsimply being immersedâ€ within an intelligent environment capable to understand and react, when needed. The goal will be the establishment of a proactive human-computer dialogue that will profoundly challenge the way people regard new tools/products/services Silver Economy.