971341HelpingHandClosedSmall Business Research InitiativeInnovate UKWith increasing age most people will develop limitations in their motor abilities. Even at a rather mild level this results in difficulties and uncertainty in performing basic motor skills. Fear of falling and the risk of actually falling itself may become a reason why daily activities become problematic and lead to the need for human care. To a certain extent care can be provided at home (extramural care) but from a certain point moving the person to care facility (intramural care) becomes required to ensure sufficient support in performing everyday activities such as visiting the toilet, washing oneself and moving around. In general people prefer to live and age in their own home as long as possible. In western European countries the publically funded care system provides support for all who need this, but demographic changes and economic decline forces nations to reconsider the level of care provision. This is another reason why aging in place is to be preferred. A resulting substantial increase in demand for extramural care will nevertheless create a need for human support that cannot be solved with traditional formal and informal care. The solution proposed in this tender will create substantial health care cost reductions as it will support these elderly and handicapped people to live at home without the need for human care. The foreseen “HelpingHand” is an intelligent robot arm that provides support on the moment that the person is losing stability and fears falling or could actually fall. It follows passively all user's movements and gets active (“freezes”) in user's unstable situations; the robotic device then becomes a stiff support. HelpingHand will be designed such that an inexperienced user can make use of the robot intuitively. It supports in all activities on toilet and completely eliminates the help of a care taker for bathroom visits. To support users during toilet vists, HelpingHand will be fixed on the toilet walls. However, in principle the robotic solution could also be applied in support of other daily tasks in other parts in the house, to solve similar issues with stability. ******************************************************************************************************** Important note: Severe issues where encountered with filling in the financial numbers. This was communicated with the business support group of the Technology Strategy Board and we where advised to provide the financials as a separate attachment; see Appendix C.