The networked, robotic home+ furniture suite: A distributed, assistive technology facilitating aging in place

Abstract

We introduce and detail a novel, networked and interoperative suite of robotic furniture. This suite forms a key part of our development of home+, an assistive technology environment aimed at supporting aging in place. This paper elaborates the design and construction process for the three robotic furniture core elements of home+: a chair, featuring gesture-controlled assistive lift; a morphing side table; and an adaptive screen. The sensor suite, networking, and user interface for the system is described and discussed. We report on initial experiments with senior citizens using the system.