Augmented reality mobile app can help aging in place
In more recent years it has been used for gaming applications to make it look like fantastic characters appear in the physical space of a player, or for shoppers on Amazon They want to see how a product fits in their house.
But the university researchers develop an app that can visualize someone’s house and make recommendations for certain renovations that would make it easier to stay at home for longer.
The app, known as the Augmented Reality Home Assessment Tool (Arhat), can offer an assessment of a home to see what can be improved to make aging in place easier.
The app “takes users through a step -by -step process that measures relevant parts of a living space and offers suggestions to make it more accessible” Blog post Published by the institution. It is part of the project “Home Is Where We Age” and is financed by the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership and the Uw-Madison Graduate School.
During use, a user is asked to select one of the 14 limitations that he may have – including visual impairments, challenges on mobility or balance problems – and “then select the areas of the house to evaluate, such as the entrance, the kitchen and the bathroom,” the blog explained.
“Follow -up questions and prompts for measurements are tailored to the user’s answers, with the option to add notes and take photos.”
The app then uses a light detection and varying (Lidar) scanner – a common feature on most modern smartphones – to measure the elements of a house and to visualize recommended changes or renovations.
“By superposing visuals in space, as seen by the camera of the device, the tool will immediately let you know if something in the house is an accessibility barrier,” the post said.
The assessment then creates a detailed reporting list identified barriers and potential issues with compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and makes recommendations about how it can best be tackled.
The The work of research team has suggested that the use of Arhat is faster and more accurate than traditional, manual measurements.
“The fact that you can use your phone and perform all those measurements digitally versus manually, is such a time saving, and a cost saving for healthcare agencies and systems, because you can be more efficient,” said Beth Fields, an occupational therapist and university teacher in the kinesiology department at your-Madonnon.
