DEsign for healthy aging: a smart system to decrease LONELINESS for older people (DELONELINESS)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Chester
Department Name: Mechanical Engineering
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Yu Shi (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Jessica Rees
(2023)
Psychological experiences of loneliness in later life.
Rees J
(2023)
Wearables, sensors and the future of technology to detect and infer loneliness in older adults
in Gerontechnology
Related Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Award Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP/W031442/1 | 01/05/2022 | 29/04/2023 | £251,974 | ||
| EP/W031442/2 | Transfer | EP/W031442/1 | 30/04/2023 | 18/11/2025 | £187,381 |
| Title | Collage Activity for Co-Design |
| Description | Pre-printed patterns and outlines of the home environment and furniture were created as foundation for collaborative collages of people's home environment. Participants could indicate with pre-printed descriptors and colours, their preferred positioning of the 'Deloneliness' system in their home environment. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Impact | This artefact will allow to better understand the end-user requirements and develop a portfolio of design principles and specifications to become useful to and usable for older adults. It helps older participants to visualize and communicate their envisioning of the system design. The functioning of this technique was already pilot tested and is in the process of refinement for the first workshop with older participants. |
| Title | Flexible full circuit for sensing and communication |
| Description | The sensors were created before, as a progressive development based on the participant feedback, the flexible circuit sysmte including sensors, circuit connection with Integrated circuit (IC) components and wireless communication have been created for printing and integration. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Impact | This is a siginificant novel progress to develop a fully re-desgined electronic system for lightweight and comfortable flexbile electronics, comparing to mostly reported sensors only. This would bring the extra comfort and fully self-functionalised system for smart textile where it is expected with better durability with encapsulation. This design is important step towards the final testing with participants based on their request feedback on comfort. |
| Title | Illustration of the Deloneliness System for Older People |
| Description | To communicate the system to the public and advertise the later exhibition of our project, an illustration has been developed. The illustration presents the functioning of the system that is developed as part of the research. At the center of the illustration we find a representation of an older lonely person. The system is consists of a smart textile, its embeddedness in furniture and wearables at home, and the AI interpretation thereof for receiving personalised support and health care. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Impact | The illustration is to be published in preparation for the exhibition of our project at the London design biennale 2023. Since no picture of our exhibits or a prototype exists at this stage, an drawing was necessary. An appealing visualization will help raise further interest in our exhibition by visitors and it will also help communicate the new research development that takes place. It is to be used for initial advertisement in the upcoming months. |
| Title | Wearable electronics design and optimisation |
| Description | We have helped design and optimisation of electronics with related data for WP1 and WP2 for design and the digital and physical models of the concept of a loneliness-monitoring system. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Impact | The wearable information is important to subjective research in WP1 for ageing people participation investigation to use smart wearables while the designed pattern and location for garment is determinant to the future exploitation opportunity for smart home based monitoring system, which is impacted with outcome of WP2. |
| Description | Emotion monitoring is difficult to assess and diagnose which is mainly dependent on the subjective method, e.g. questionnaire. In this project, we are developing the novel sensors for the detection of loneliness emotions in humans when they are independently at home. The smart textile which could be garment or surface of furniture (e.g. mattress, sofa) will be more accurate and acceptable for users as monitoring approach at home environment. The researchers in the team have hence identified the appropriate individual sensors that will allow the detection of the main symptoms of loneliness based on the findings of WP1 with potential patient's team. We are working with research partners at KCL together to design and determine the optimal positioning of individual sensors to be placed onto the garments and/or the furniture, for accuracy of measurement and comfort of potential users at home. We have been developing the physiological sensors to detect human body temperature, ECG/EMG, motions while we are exploring the design of sensors to detect Hormone data, such as Cortisol, assessing the daily stress level of human. The data are under plan to collect for support of AI team from KCL to process and assess the loneliness. We also work with industrial partner, smart textile supplier, for discussion of electronics design for future exploitation opportunity which will be further updated for integration with fully electronics. |
| Exploitation Route | The outcomes will be directly used by academic partners who require the data for development of AI model. Furthermore, the research outcomes such as review or technical journal papers, will benefit to the wider academic community with electronics and wearable, fibre and textile manufacturing, and healthcare and mental health. This is also potentially taken forward with our industrial partner who develops smart garment for healthcare and sport applications, which we have been benefited from project with another Innovate UK grant secured to strengthen the partnership. The outcomes will help to accelerate the smart textile for fashion, furniture and healthcare applications with more efficient monitoring and early stage diagnosis and objective of net-zero with reduced consumables and transportation organised. |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Electronics Healthcare |
| Description | Our findings have been presented by Reimagine ageing showcase by 09/2024 where the clinicians and government represetatitve have attended with collaboration discussion for mental health and even beyond for the specifical medical challenge such as Heart attack by developed smart textile. Leeds Council has been running the digital health technology for public which our technology arises their attention by smart wearable textile for remote/home monitoring and diagnosis. |
| Sector | Electronics,Healthcare |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Description | Housing Learning and Improvement Network |
| Organisation | Housing Learning and Improvement Network |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Bi-weekly meetings organised with project partners, Housing Learning Improvement Network, to update on the project and organise support for recruitment. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Housing LIN sent out a specific newsletter to members of network advertising opportunity for interview participants |
| Impact | We have recruited 10 participants directly through Housing LIN and made contacts with independent living providers across the UK. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | PPIE feedback from READ group |
| Organisation | South London and Maudsley (SLAM) NHS Foundation Trust |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | In October 2023, the Race, Ethnicity And Diversity Group (READ) at King's College London and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust was consulted on the DELONELINESS project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Four experts by experience provided feedback on recruitment methods for the qualitative interview study. |
| Impact | Refinement of study poster to be more inclusive of experiences of loneliness. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Title | Smart textile wearables |
| Description | In work package on smart textile composite, we are currently working on the production of the technical products by designing and printing the individual sensors for emotion detection. This is the result of the identification of the appropriate sensors, the determination of the sensors' location for optimal measurements and the optimisation of the selected sensors which is still in progress. The physiological sensors, such as body temperature, ECG/EMG, motions' detection have been printed and tested while the hormone sensors are under design and fabrication for emotion analysis and monitoring. |
| Type Of Technology | Systems, Materials & Instrumental Engineering |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Impact | This will impact onto the proposed smart home wearable electronics for garment and furniture design. The collected physiological and hormone data will be integrated within the AI programme to analyse and scale the loneliness. |
| Description | Engagement focused blog |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Engagement focused blog published by the Campaign to End Loneliness, exploring how technology can be used to measure loneliness, introduce the DELONELINESS project, and support recruitment for interview study. The blog was shared on Twitter by the Housing LIN who have over 4,000 followers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/how-can-we-measure-loneliness-using-technology/ |