Inspiration
Beside the physical challenges, one of the issues that prevent elderly people from going out and socializing more is the emotional and psychology barriers, such as their attachment to special artifacts from the past, which they can’t carry with them when they go out. This project addresses issues of elderly people’s social isolation by raising awareness to the significance of physical mementos in autobiographical memory and memory reconstruction. The Wearable Memory can play an important role in bringing back elderly people’s personal identity and sense of self, within their culture and community to improve social interaction. In addition to storing personal memories, the wearable memory can serve as a safety device at aged care facilities and other participating outlets. The wearable memory is able to provide information about the location of the resident, sending automated alarms to carers if the resident leaves the facility. The wearable memory is intuitive and easy to use. It has a long-life battery, it is low cost, durable, and its multiple safety and personalisation features can help reduce the number of safety and identification devices that an older person has to wear.
How it works
Wearable memory is beautiful and functional jewellery for the support of older persons social connectedness and personal safety. The Wearable Memory is an interactive design that allows an elderly person to reveal autobiographical memories through artifacts and photos from their past. Elderly people, their Family or careers upload a series of photos from their family album and photos of a variety of artifacts to the cloud. The elderly people wear a Bluetooth device, such as Estimote Beacons or stickers. When they approach the smart devices in range, the digital display then responds by showing their personalized photo album. Their autobiographical memories associated with it come to life while their album plays on the screen of the participating outlets.
Analogue + Digital
Laser cut brooch, bracelet and pendant were custom made for Estimote Beacons and Stickers. The etched initials in the center give a personal touch to the wearable pieces. Estimote Beacons and Stickers are tiny computers. They have a powerful ARM processor, memory, Bluetooth Smart module, and temperature and motion sensors.
Evolving + Evoking
It raises awareness to the signifi¬cance of physical mementos in autobiographical memory and memory reconstruction, and how they play an important role in bringing back the elderlies personal identity and sense of self within their culture and community to improve socialisation.
Community Engagement
Display portals include TV screens, displays at the shop¬ping centers and outdoor displays at public buildings. These portals can utilize existing devices at participating build¬ings. Examples of participating outlets that would benefit from this are galleries or shopping centers, as these would allow multiple users to interact and reminisce about the images.
Personalisation
The participants will upload the personalized images / family al¬bum to the cloud, which will be triggered when the Bluetooth signal is received by the bea¬con and Raspberry Pi attached to the display devices in range.
Challenges I ran into
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
The Wearable Memory is a unique combination of analogue and digital. The laser cut brooch and Bluetooth devices become featured tangible artifacts, which retain a sensory quality (touch, smell, sight, sound), which enhances a sense of empathy among elderly people.
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