Aging in place, made affordable

More years at home, with family close by.

Next Generation Aging is a low-cost kit that helps older and disabled people go on living in their own homes. A few small sensors notice the ordinary rhythm of a day, and the people who care can see, from wherever they are, that all is as it should be.

No cameras
No microphones
Works with or without home Wi-Fi

What it is for

Most people want to stay in the home they know. What families need is a quiet, respectful way to know that today looks like any other day, and to hear early when it does not.

See the day's activity

Small motion and door sensors record that someone is up, moving from room to room, opening the fridge, heading to bed. Nothing is filmed and nothing is listened to.

Notice when something changes

Every home has its own rhythm. The aim is to learn what is normal for this person, and to point out gently when a day stops looking like the others: a later start, a quieter kitchen, a restless night.

Bring the whole family together

Sons, daughters, grandchildren and caregivers share one place on their phones: to look in on how the day is going, and to talk to one another about it, privately.

Help research, only if the family agrees

With the family's approval, and not otherwise, a home's data can be made available to nursing and engineering researchers who are working out how to help people stay well at home.

How it works

1
A few sensors around the home

Ordinary, off-the-shelf sensors, each the size of a matchbox, stuck to a wall or a door. They run on batteries, and there is nothing to wear and nothing to remember.
2
A small hub that never loses a thing

A hub the size of a paperback keeps every event safe until it has been delivered. It sends over the home's Wi-Fi if there is any; if there is none, a family member's phone carries the data out when they visit.
3
The family sees it, wherever they are

Each person signs in and sees only the homes they have been given. What they may see and do is set person by person, home by home.

Low cost, on purpose

Staying at home should not depend on what a family can afford. The kit is built from inexpensive parts anyone can buy, with no contract for cameras or call centres, so that it can reach the people who need it most.

Off-the-shelf sensors and a small, low-power hub
No home internet needed
Set up by the family, from a phone

Private, by design

This is information about someone's health and home. It is treated that way from the first sensor to the last screen.

Sensors see movement, never pictures or sound
Data is protected on its way, and a phone that carries it cannot read it
The family decides who sees what, and whether researchers see anything at all

For nursing and engineering researchers

How does daily activity change before a fall, an illness, or a move out of the home? Answering that takes real data from real homes, shared willingly. Families who choose to can make their home's data available for study, and can change their minds.

Access for researchers is by arrangement with the project.

Already taking part?

Next Generation Aging is in development. Some of what is described here is working today and some is being built.