Design of Assistive Technology for Ageing Populations

This book focuses on various aspects of research on ageing, including in relation to assistive technology; dignity of aging; how technology can support a greater understanding of the experience of physically aging and cognitive changes; mobility issues associated with the elderly; and emerging technologies. 

The 80+ age group represents an expanding market, with an estimated worth of £21.4 billion a year. Everyone is affected by this shift in demographics – we are getting older and may become carers – and we need to prepare ourselves and adjust our surroundings for longer life. Products, services and environments have been changing in response to the changing population.

Presenting international design research to demonstrate the thinking and ideas shaping design, this book is a valuable resource for designers; product developers; employers;  gerontologists; and medical, health and service providers; as well as everyone interested in aging.

Professor Andree Woodcock  holds a Chair in Educational Ergonomics and Design and is located in the Centre for Mobility and Transport. She has been awarded grants in excess of £10 million since I came to Coventry University in 1999, mainly from RCUK and in collaboration with UK and European partners. These have included research on the design of polysensory school environments for children with ASD, an analysis of the involvement of children in the redesign of schools as part of the Building Schools for the Future Programme, the use of social networking by informal groups, the spontaneous, voluntary contrbutions of citizens to urban regeneration (VoiceYourView), and the development of a patient held record system (MyCare).She has developed a user testing toolkit for SMEs (IDEAL-ALIP project) and a decision support system for SMEs moving into the assistive technology market (COMODAL).Transport related research has included looking at the in car safety and security of female caroccupants, an analysis of HMI of electric vehicles, an stakeholder analysis of an electric bus, a review of social transport and the leadership of an FP7 project to develop a Pan European tool to measure the quality of the passenger experience (METPEX). She currently leads a 4 year H2020CIVITAS pproject looking at capacity building in small to medium local authorities wishing to implement sustainable transport measures.She is also currently building a portfolio of work Prof McDonagh on empathic design and ageing.

Dr Louise Moody is the Associate Head for Research, and Reader in User-Centred Health Design in the School of Art and Design at Coventry University. She has a background in psychology and human factors that has been applied predominantly to design for health. Her research is focused on the development of products, interventions and services to benefit health and wellbeing. She employs a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods as well as art and design approaches to ensure that new products, systems, services and interventions are functional as well as being desirable, usable and acceptable to users and stakeholders.

Dr Deana McDonagh, is Professor of Industrial Design in the School of Art + Design at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) and faculty at the Beckman Institute of Advanced Science and Technology. She is an experienced design practitioner and entrepreneur. She is an Empathic Design Research Strategist who focuses on enhancing quality of life for all through more intuitive and meaningful products, leading to emotional sustainability. Her research concentrates on emotional user-product relationships and how empathy can bring the designer closer to users’ authentic needs, ensuring both functional and emotional needs are met by products. She is a Research Fellow at Coventry University (UK), Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University and Director of Research and Insight for Herbst Produkt design consultancy (USA). She isthe Designer Entrepreneur-in-Residence (start-up incubator) at the Research Park, and Designer in Residence at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) where she provides design guidance.  

Dr. Lakhmi C. Jain, PhD, ME, BE(Hons), Fellow (Engineers Australia) is with the Faculty of Education, Science, Technology & Mathematics at the University of Canberra, Australia and Bournemouth University, UK. Professor Jain founded the KES International for providing a professional community the opportunities for publications, knowledge exchange, cooperation and teaming. Involving around 5,000 researchers drawn from universities and companies world-wide, KES facilitates international cooperation and generate synergy in teaching and research. KES regularly provides networking opportunities for professional community through one of the largest conferences of its kind in the area of KES. His interests focus on the artificial intelligence paradigms and their applications in complex systems, security, e-education, e-healthcare, unmanned air vehicles and intelligent agents.