Tangible Design: Concept Creation

• This project is designed to make it easier to react when elderly people are falling .


• It is based on a fall detector attached to the Arduino base and a special belt


• The design is both friendly for all genders


• It has a padded inner layer to protect skin and body from scratches and irritation.


• When the person falls down the detector sends a signal to Arduino and then to the operator (nurse) who
  uses a mobile application


• When the alarming incoming message arrives the operator gets notified that something happened and attention is needed.

According to scientific data, hugs are extremely important, lack of hugging makes people sad and distant and prevents social contact. Research showed that people need to hug at least for 20 seconds to release the feel-good hormone oxytocin which creates a connection between people. Oxytocin has been shown to boost the immune system and reduce stress. The idea is to give people (in particular elderly who can live in a nursery house or in a separate apartment and their grandchildren) an option to hug using a cushion. The set consists of two cushions in a form of a heart with hands. Both cushions have the Arduino base inside which sends an alarm to the mobile device with a notification that a person wants hugging. Once the notification arrived to another person they take a cushion, and hug it. This sends a signal to another cushion that starts blinking and producing sounds ready to give another hug.

• It is a puzzle designed to help young children get attached to their grandparents .


• It is a wide known fact that nowadays elderly people are separated from their families, they seldom see their grandchildren and communicate with them.


• The idea is to use a puzzle to unite people together and form a bond connection through social activity, which can from another side also train mental abilities of both young and old generation.


• Finding and combining pieces of jigsaw puzzles together requires a lot of fine motor skills and attention.
  That is why puzzles can be a good social and brain stimulation activity

Technical Details

Both puzzles have two scenes: one is with a Lion King, another is with a Bambi. Pieces are rather large suited for both hands and vision for elderly and youngsters. The puzzles are inserted to a special panel connected with the LED and Arduino. When the whole set is ready it creates a voice signal and blinks with different colours making people involved in the process happy.