Public Funding for Alcove Limited

no public description

Digital Home Visits Technologies Ltd (Vida) aims to reduce the number of vulnerable adults in homecare having falls or developing UTIs, thus reducing the overall cost of care and improving the outcomes for the individual. This will be achieved through the development of machine learning algorithms (the objectives of this project) that combine data collected by IoT home monitoring devices with health and medical data recorded by Carers, to predict when these events are more likely to occur. Vida will be collaborating with Alcove who will be installing home monitoring devices to capture the quantitative data - such as motion, light, temperature and pressure - from 50 homecare clients. By developing this technology in partnership with a large, established care agency, we expect to be able to develop an integrated service to detect early warning signs for developing medical conditions, and alert the relevant stakeholders in order to provide early intervention and thus improve the outcome for the client.

"Digital exclusion means the people that could benefit the most from technology are the ones that often have the least access to it. Graphic user interface designs and interactions with smart devices often assume a level of digital literacy that many groups, like disadvantaged or cognitively impaired older adults, simply do not possess. Emerging technologies, like virtual reality, have the potential to minimise this accessibility gap by offering functionalities that are not only more user-friendly and intuitive, but allow individuals to practice new skills and experiences in a safe environment to reduce fear and anxiety of real-life situations. Alcove, a \#caretech ecosystem, plans to discover how virtual reality can best be used to improve the lives of people with a Learning Disability through proven, human-centered research and design processes with a group of adults living with learning disabilities within Essex. We will use existing consumer technology to see if virtual reality is beneficial and usable to our future customers. From their feedback, we will look to define what features and functionality address their needs and aspirations the best -- from practising and developing new life skills to experiencing quality-of-life boosting activities such as rollercoaster rides and trips to a safari or even trying a train for the first time. We will let the users choose what's important to them; then work out what's technically and commercially viable. From idea to prototype, using off the shelf applets and plugs-ins, users will then be able to try, assess, and report back on new features."

"""I cannot use a smartphone. Why should i be forced to miss out on cheaper and more efficient and higher quality services provided by apps? Why do I pay more for outdated support solutions while my able bodies friends can access on demand? It just isn't fair. If I want to order a cheap nutritious meal for lunch, a smartphone user can Deliveroo or Ubereat and for £5-8 have a delicious meal delivered. If I am an older adult I pay the same for Meals on Wheels or Farm foods to deliver me a ready meal in a carton. Similarly with laundry, food shopping, transport I am left behind and have to buy the most expensive services because I cannot use a smartphone."" Following the success of Alcove's Innovate UK project 'Voice Controlled empowerment' project in which we brought the power of Alexa en masse to disadvantaged older adults and which was commercialised even before the end of the project, we feel it totally necessary to continue this proven work with the next evolution of at home concierge services using Alcove's current technology video carephone platform. Older adults are just not ready for virtual avatar style assistants. It's 5 years away. If ever. So what do they get now? Poor, expensive, burdensome 'municipality flavoured' services. Really, very unfair. Alcove intends to provide a super easy friendly and clear video calling screen that at a single touch - connects directly with a REAL HUMAN to take the order and place it for them on their behalf. No fancy API integrations needed OR wanted - just a lovely human friendly face to take my order and cheaper and faster and I don't need to know anything about technology."

AiCove

Digital exclusion means the people that could benefit the most from technology are the ones that often have least access to it. Graphic user interface designs and interactions with smart devices often assume a level of digital literacy that many groups, like disadvantaged or cognitively impaired older adults, simply do not possess. Emerging technologies, like voice recognition software, have the potential to minimise these usability and accessibility gaps. Alcove, a #caretech ecosystem, plans to discover how voice control can best be used to improve lives by on-site design and iteration with older adults living in social housing in the London Borough of Newham. We will use existing consumer technology, the Amazon Echo, to see if its Alexa voice control is useful and usable to our future customers. From their feedback, we will look to define what features and functionality address their needs and aspirations the best. From calling for help in an emergency; to dimming lights or turning the heating on; to an AI doctor diagnosing an illness. We will let the users choose what's important to them; then work out what's technically and commericially viable. From idea to prototype, using off the shelf applets and plugs ins, users will then be able to try, assess, and report back on new features.

Alcove is an Internet-of-Things-powered care ecosystem designed to keep older adults in their own homes, avoiding the need for costly residential care. Alcove repurposes modern consumer technology, from werables to wireless sensors, and wrappers it in a bespoke software layer, to create a customer experience which looks and feels like any other consumer app. Alcove helps better inform and connect older adults, their families and the formal care system, to better safeguard people and improve their quality of life. The HEALTHCARE AT HOME feasibility study is looking at the commercial viablity of a commercial roll out of this enabling technology in New Zealand including to those with dementia. It is a collaboration with Nurse Maude, a large homecare provider, and St.. John, New Zealand's largest telecare provider. It will provide all necessary prepartion for a large pilot with 90 older adults with dementia. This will provide the evidence on which to base a large commercial rollout, both to care providers and directly to consumers to help them better care for loved ones and reduce stress that they experience as caregivers.

Further to previous work done as part of the CASA (Connecting Assistive Solutions to Aspirations) project which formed part of Innovate UK's Long Term Care Revolution, Alcove Ltd wants to include a wearable device in its suite of hardware and software being delivered as part of an integrated assisted living service. A watch, being the most typical component of a standard dressing routine could be a vital component of any service, provided appropriate installation, training, charging regime and maintenance. Numerous usability issues were raised further to discussions with older adults such as size, weight, strap mechanism, battery life, water resistance, aesthetics, cost, ease of use for those with sensory and manual difficulties, etc. Discussions with potential customers, both older adults themselves, family members and social care providers, highlighted the most desirable features. The main three features to be created as part of this project are emergency response or panic button, which would make an immediate call to a loved one or 24-hour monitoring centre; two-way voice call functionality to allow mobile communication with the person via their wrist (plus visual or haptic communication channels if hearing is poor); and ability to receive and acknowledge reminders via various sensory channels. Rather than create expensive proprietary assistive hardware, the Company is looking to develop bespoke software which can be used on the consumer "smart watch" devices which are coming to market apace at the moment. Samsung have led the charge with its Tizen software while newer entrants like Motorola and Sony are using AndroidWear. The created application will need to block the watch's other functionality and address problems such as false positives. Watches with the developed software will be trialled in a small scale demonstrator with up to 50 older and disabled adults living in a social housing extra care setting in partnership with East Thames Housing Group.