Assistive robotic micro-rooms for independent living

The demographic change situation in Germany, as well as in other leading industrial nations, leads to an overload of the family and institutionalized nursing care system structure. For this reason, novel solutions must be developed, in order to guarantee fully independent living of the elderly people, and an efficient assistance or nursing, in diverse living environments. The research project LISA has investigated the possibilities to embed mechatronic, assistive functions and services into compact wall "terminal" elements thereby enabling autonomous and independent living upon performing Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) by means of generated structured environments and robotic micro-rooms (RmRs). In this article, a classification of the approach in the broader context of research, as well as a statement of methodical and structured multi-phase development are described. The conceptual and development phases and the technical details using selected assistive functions of the entire system are presented. The article explains the methodical approach throughout the four phases of development and focuses on essential field trials with collected user feedback. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.