Audience Award Humanized Tech Award for The Guiding Environment project
17-02-2020
The RAAK Small and Medium-Sized Business project 'The Guiding Environment' from the research group Architecture in Health (Arnhem Nijmegen University of Applied Sciences) has won the public award of the Humanized Tech Award in February 2020. The Digital Life Center of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences is also part of the research team. Professor Masi Mohammadi (HAN) managed to convince the audience with the accumulated demo and her pitch during the final in Babel, Den Bosch. The project was nominated for the final in October 2019 during the Dutch Design Week.
Increasing aging and greater gray pressure are social changes that strongly influence the Dutch health care system. While the demand for care is rising, there is a shortage of care professionals. Technological innovations can respond to these social changes and ensure that the elderly can continue to live independently at home for longer.
The aim of the 'The Guiding Environment' project is to develop a concept that allows elderly people with early dementia to live at home for longer. The Guiding Environment can support and encourage these elderly people in their daily lives. The technology fully adapts to the user and creates a safe and comfortable living environment.
This new technology makes life easier for the elderly and must therefore be fully integrated into the living environment. For example, the technology does not measure how long the older person is sitting still, but encourages him or her to take actions throughout the day.
In an empathic home, a sandwich is projected onto the wall to remind the resident that it's time to have lunch. Interactive arrows on the floor indicate the direction of the next step.
The Humanized Tech Award is an incentive prize that is awarded annually to the makers of innovative technology. The technology must have been developed with humanity, humanity and humanity as central principles. The dialogues that arise as a result must lead to a blueprint for future technological developments.