Researcher: Lukas Van Campenhout
Supervisor: Kristof Vaes
Take a look at gaalaxy.eu
In the gAALaxy project, we devised new products that make it easier for older people to live independently in their own homes. From our background in embodied interaction and UX, we worked on the domestication and user acceptance of these products. More specifically, we embodied the assistive intelligence that is added to the housings of older people by a physical object: a piece of furniture that was hung to the wall. The idea was to translate high-tech in a warm, domesticated appliance. We produced a series of 15 pieces, and tested them in a large-scale field test, involving 50 housings in Belgium, Austria and Italy.
SF1, a member of the gAALaxy consortium and an integrator of smart home technology, was inspired by this endeavor, and together with them, we started the development of the SF1 Pitlane Box, a hardware unit that eases home automation. The first samples were 3D printed and tested in Belgian households.
Funding : HORIZON 2020 (EU) - Ambient Assisted Living Joint Programme
Partners (Flemish Consortium): Fifthplay (Niko), SF1, CM, Zorgbedrijf Antwerpen
Period: 2016 – 2019