Application areas addressed:           Mobility, Itinerary planning, Orientation,                                                                   Serious Gaming and Active Aging

Proposal full title:                               A motivating game-like environment and information system for the promotion and monitoring of mobility and cognitive skills amongst elderly people with chronic diseases.

Proposal acronym:                               MobilityMotivator

Name of the lead coordinator person:            Dr. Marie-Madeleine Bernard

Contact details of the coordinator:     mmb@pace2000.org

List of participants:

 

Website

Rationale

Mobility is key, not only to ageing well, but to the control of most prevalent chronic diseases including the “diabesity” pandemic. Lack of involvement in regular physical activity is an important challenge and the cause for many therapeutic failures, particularly amongst elderly people who suffer from chronic diseases, but should also be countered as a preventive measure to delay the onset of these conditions.

Correcting situational disadvantages generated by chronic diseases and providing a multi-player environment are important factors promoting active ageing and mobility. PACE 2000’s ten years of operations of tele-physiotherapy sessions with inter-generational participation (Published evaluations attached), indicate that the teaming of participants is key to the success of long term mobility. The difficulties of conserving mobility and autonomy to do shopping and see friends outside the home are also linked to physical capacity, including choosing the optimum route and fighting the fear of getting lost. These can be solved by providing itinerary planning coupled with a mobile interface such as a smart phone acting as a companion as well as an element of the game which can be adapted to the needs of the person and the method of displacement (walking, in a chair or mobility scooter, public transport etc..)

 

Aim

The aim in project MobilityMotivator is to design and develop a multiplayer multifunctional interactive and engaging environment promoting in- and out-door mobility amongst elderly people (primary users) who need incentives to maintain an active lifestyle or who suffer from chronic diseases. Furthermore, the MobiliyMotivator solution will provide those for whom the care and welfare of the elderly end user is of particular concern, (i.e. secondary user) with monitoring mechanisms to assess range of motion and cognitive skills. The mobile interface will also track activities of the person which can be consulted by family members or carers at different levels of detail to verify that  all is going well. 

MobilityMotivator will integrate a range of state of the art technologies such as a “4D Contact Point” Station (Simultaneous 1-Verbal 2- Non verbal communication 3- reading 4- writing) and a Video-conference-based GoniometerÒ into a multi-player gaming environment to provide a truly innovative approach to promoting mobility and the exercising of cognitive skills amongst the primary user target base. The solution will be accessible on IP-TV as well as PC and  tablets. The itinerary planning interface coupled with the mobile interface will integrate detailed geographical data permitting all obstacles, gradients, stairs and surfaces of the route to be stored and used in the calculation of the optimum itinerary taking into account the deficiencies of the user.

 

Objectives

The MobilityMotivator consortium has agreed on the following strategic objectives (SOs):

SO1   Define user driven specifications for an interactive and engaging serious gaming environment to promote and monitor mobility and cognitive skills amongst elderly people with chronic diseases in the community.

SO2   Identify a comprehensive range of user needs and interests upon which to base the design and development of user driven content and interaction mechanisms.

SO3   Develop a low cost, customized and integrated MobilityMotivator environment incorporating accessible static and mobile itinerary planning interfaces and multiplayer games favouring indoor and outdoor mobility, a « 4D contact » station to facilitate multi-user collaboration and a videoconference GoniometerÒ for measuring the range of motion in the indoor environment.

SO4   Design tailored interfaces and interaction systems adapted to the users’ needs and requirements that facilitate assessment of mobility and cognitive skills and produce or adapt GIS and other data enabling the extension to the outdoor environment in the pilot test sites.

SO5   Produce a set of content specifications that will guide the game development process and build pilot content scenarios for user assessment.

SO6   Install the MobilityMotivator technology to be evaluated by a representative sample of users in each of the 3 centers for elderly people in France, switzerland and the Netherlands.

SO7   Elaborate a methodology for assessing the socio-economic and organizational impact of MobilityMotivator on user groups and conduct this assessment through the use of assessment tools designed for that purpose.

SO8   Implement an exploitation and dissemination strategy and plan including a MobilityMotivator Community of Practice (MMCoP) to build awareness and prepare for commercialization.

SO9   Open new revenue opportunities for elderly care service providers by creating a new, interactive approach for promoting mobility in a distributed environment.

SO10 Explore ways in which services for the elderly could be co-financed from new revenue streams through partnerships between private and public sectors.

 

Work Plan

The work plan in project MobilityMotivator will run for a period of 36 months and include the following key areas of activity:

WP1 – Project Management and Coordination

WP2 – User Requirements Identification and Monitoring

WP3 – MobilityMotivator Environment Design, Development and Integration

WP4 – Pilot Test Cases

WP 5 - Dissemination and Exploitation

At project completion, the consortium will have a comprehensive mobility solution, tested and validated, ready for commercialisation

 

 

Multiplayer Game Mobility Motivator

 

The game presents a choice of competitivity or collaboration amongst players.  One setting allows for the collaboration between an outdoor “explorer” using a smartphone, and an in-door  “researcher” using a PC or tablets.

 

The selected framework is the participants’ local area map (Google map or the CEREMH accessible map).  Players choose an itinerary with achievable distance.

Similar to a “snake and ladder” game,  participants want to reach their destination in minimum time with maximum rewards.

 

Questions are focused on recognizing landmarks, identifying difficulties (series of steps , absence of walkway etc…) or performing a movement or adopting the shadow of a posture.  Simple or elaborate orientation questions (Cardinal points, distance remaining etc…) will be  addressed by discussing them amongst the paired players.   Some goals cannot be attained without collaboration amongst partners.