Our team developed three products that ideally will work together, but can each be used separately. If used together, the products will comprise a tracking ecosystem, but each product individually will help an elderly person track his health and connect with his family. Each individual user will decide which combination of products best suits his needs.
Product 1 — Notification Button
This product will be the most basic of our offerings, and can be set up anywhere in an elderly person’s home. Users will push the button in order to notify loved ones about their daily activities and habits, so the product acts as both a reminder for the user to carry out essential tasks and a notification system for the user’s family. When the button is red, the user knows that he did not perform a task, such as taking his medication. As soon as he takes his medication he pushes the button, and a text or e-mail notification is immediately sent to his family members or doctor. We mainly discussed using the button as a way to track use of medication, but the product can be customized to fit every user’s unique needs and activities.
- Entice — Elderly users will be enticed to use this product to keep in touch with their loved ones and doctors in with the simple push of a button. They will be able to feel like they are staying in touch with their family members and friends with basically no effort. The product will also make it easier for users to remember to carry out essential activities, so their desire to form effective habits will also entice them to use the button.
- Enter — The “enter” point will be when the user decides how many buttons he or she wants, what activities they will be used to track, and where to place them in the home.
- Engage — The user will engage with the product by pressing the button every day until it becomes a habit. They will press the button after they have completed various tasks, so the product will become a part of their everyday life.
- Exit — The user will stop engaging with the product once he begins to need full-time assistance or cannot take care of himself.
- Extend — Ideally, the user’s children will adopt the button once they become older. Because they will be familiar with the product from their reception of the notifications, the user’s children are ideal candidates to adopt it themselves.
Product 2 — Dashboard
Our second product is a sleek, tablet-sized dashboard mounted to the user’s wall. The dashboard will be a place for elderly users to track vital health statistics, such as weight, blood pressure, hours of sleep, and diet. If the user also owns the notification button and the wearable wristband, he can link these products to the dashboard for automatic integration. If the user only owns the dashboard, he will input his health statistics manually. The user’s family members and doctors will be able to access the dashboard in order to view and track all of his vital statistics.
- Entice — The user will be enticed to use the dashboard because of its “one-stop-shop” appeal. Since it will be simple and easy to use, it will not intimidate users that are unfamiliar with technology.
- Enter — After setting up the dashboard in his home, the user will personalize the product by selecting which statistics he would like to track and monitor. The user will also select which of his relatives and doctors he will share the dashboard’s information with, and connect the product to their contact information.
- Engage — The user will use this product everyday to connect with his loved ones and doctor. The user’s activities and data will be entered either automatically, with the integration of other products, or manually.
- Exit — The user will stop interacting with the dashboard when he starts to require full-time care.
- Extend — The user’s children will continue to use the dashboard as they become older and have an increased desire and need to track their own health statistics.
Product 3 — Wearable Wristband
Our third product is a wearable wristband used to track and monitor an elderly user’s health. This wristband builds on the model of a fitness tracker by detecting falls and other inconsistencies in motion, tracking hours and quality of sleep, and monitoring changes in vitals such as blood pressure and heart rate. The product can be linked to the networks of family members and doctors in order to keep them updated on their loved ones’ activities and statistics, and can also feed into the dashboard described above.
- Entice — This product offers peace of mind to the user’s family and doctors by providing automatic detection of falls and changes in vitals. The user will be enticed to adopt the wristband by its promise of automatic tracking. All they have to do is wear the wristband to benefit from it — their data is automatically tracked and updated, which is appealing to users who are unfamiliar with technology.
- Enter — The user will connect the device with a network of family members and friends. They will become used to wearing the wristband on a daily basis.
- Engage — By wearing the wristband every day, the user will be able to view his daily statistics by connecting with a report generated by the device. This report can either be automatically linked to the dashboard or sent by e-mail or text to the user and his chosen relatives and doctors.
- Exit — The user will stop wearing the wristband if he needs full-time assistance and care.
- Extend — The user’s children will adopt the wristband as they grow older as a way to track and monitor their own health and safety.