GADGETS LEND A HELPING VOICE.
For an octogenarian with arthritic knees, a voice-controlled light switch could ease the pain of having to stand and walk just to illuminate a room.
For a nonagenarian, a robot that offers brain-teasing games to help keep her mind sharp could become an ideal companion.
And for the centenarian, sensors imbued with artificialintelligence technology to automatically summon help if he has trouble getting out of bed could be a lifesaver.
Indeed, smart-home technologies that younger adults see as fun, convenient, trendy gadgets will become increasingly vital for older adults to continue active, independent and secure lives in their own houses, especially if medical science continues to extend life-expectancy rates.
“People are living longer, but a lot of them are suffering from medical conditions,” said Barry Sardis, 70, a retired San Jose resident who has been helping to test a small robot companion, called the ElliQ, that is specifically designed for seniors. “And just getting old is a bummer.”
A recent survey by the research firm Parks Associates of adults age 40 and over found that 80 percent expected to still be living in their own homes when they were 80 years old.
That expectation, however, is contingent on maintaining the financial means and the physical abilities to continue to live independently. While smart-home technology can’t help boost financial security, it could help seniors with health and safety concerns.
While seniors want more than the socially stigmatizing “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” alert pendants that have been around since the 1980s, some smart-home technologies currently available are still too complicated to set up and operate, said Brad Russell, Parks Associates senior research analyst.
One major revolution that could reduce that complexity is the introduction of voicecontrol speakers like Amazon’s Alexa-powered Echo, Google Home and Apple’s Siri.
“Voice will just make it uber-simple for them, and they won’t have to learn apps and buttons,” Russell said. “They’ll just have to ask for what they want.”
Retail giant Best Buy has created a special unit, called Assured Living, to evaluate how smart-home technologies can be useful for seniors, or their adult children who are looking for ways to assist and monitor their aging parents.
The unit has found older adults are most interested in gadgets like doorbell cameras, smart locks and smart thermostats, but also bed, chair and motion sensors that could send loved ones or caregivers notices for events such as if they slipped on the stairs or in the bathroom, or for significant variances in their daily routines.
According to an email from Assured Living team members, “We’ve had ‘younger’ seniors tell us they want to start using this smart technology while they’re active, so they become adept with it because they suspect it may be harder for them to adapt 10 or 20 years from now.”
But the high prices, numerous available options and fear of security breaches are barriers that keep seniors from widely adopting the devices.
Brookdale Senior Living, a Tennessee firm which operates assisted, independent and skilled-nursing services for seniors around the country, has tested devices like the ElliQ robot to see which are most helpful. Brookdale has a program for young tech entrepreneurs to experience how seniors use their devices.
“There’s a misconception that seniors as a whole are not interested in technologies, but we think that’s absolutely false based on our experiences,” said Andrew Smith, Brookdale’s senior director of innovation and growth strategy.
However, Brookdale has found its clients do have a fear of breaking the devices, which causes “a hesitance to explore” how they work, he said. “A lot of these devices aren’t built for use by someone who is 80plus, with limited mobility in their fingers or with macular degeneration,” which causes vision loss.
Sardis hasn’t been shy about experimenting in his own home, installing an Amazon Echo smart speaker to help control his lights. He also installed a more advanced Echo Show in his 101-year-old mother-in-law’s Sacramento home thinking she might want to have the device read aloud some of the books on her Kindle since she suffers from macular degeneration.
But Sardis said he hasn’t been able to persuade her to say, “Read my book.” That’s why he believes robots like the ElliQ could help since it’s programmed to know more about its owners and, depending on their needs, proactively prompt them to get exercise.
“Maybe ElliQ would say, ‘Would you like me to read you the book now?’ ” said Sardis, who became an early tester after learning about the Tel Aviv startup while researching robots.
The ElliQ, which is still undergoing testing and won’t be available until sometime next year, isn’t alone. San Francisco’s Catalia Health is developing a robot geared toward helping seniors manage ongoing health conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, an inflammatory lung disease.
The robot, named Mabu, is designed to better connect seniors with their health care providers so that key changes in their conditions get reported daily instead of waiting three to six months for a visit to the doctor, said Catalia CEO Cory Kidd. The robot is designed to speak in a conversational way.
“I’m your new wellness coach, Mabu,” the robot said during a recent demonstration. “I’m not a doctor or a nurse, but I’m able to help in certain ways . ... Since the last time we talked, have you been feeling short of breath?”
Catalia Health plans to start distributing robots in January to Kaiser Permanente heart patients.
Kidd said he has spent about two decades working on technology for seniors with the “ultimate goal” of helping “someone live at home longer rather than move into a nursing home, assisted living facility or in with relatives.”
The next step “is figuring out a good way to integrate these into our lives and our homes more easily,” he said.
And tech for seniors will undoubtedly have an expanding audience, especially as younger generations who will come to expect smart lights and thermostats as a way of life get older, said Brookdale’s Andrew Smith.
“It’s a huge business opportunity, and it’s also a universal need,” he said. “We’ll all experience it.”
“Voice will just make it uber-simple for them, and they won’t have to learn apps and buttons. They’ll just have to ask for what they want.” Brad Russell, Parks Associates senior research analyst