User-Centered Development of sensor-based Systems for Older People

This research studied the development of sensor-based Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) systems, new technology that allows older people to stay in their own homes longer. AAL is an important area for the future due to the changing demographics in Europe, but there are not yet many successful systems. The development process is key, as this is where decisions about functionality and design are made that can affect user acceptance and success on the market later. The goal was to identify issues development teams face and to gain understanding of these. Taking a Human-Computer Interaction perspective, a key focus was the way in which the needs of the people who will use the system were gathered and taken into account during the development process, but it was also open to wider issues. Qualitative methods were applied. Aspects related to the users, the technology, project, funding and marketing were identified. The results provide a basis on which to build more successful systems, that are both reliable and usable, in the future.