RelaxedCare - Increased Wellbeing through Innovative Interaction

The project RelaxedCare developed a solution which not only increases the wellbeing of elderly people, but also reduces the burden and stress on relatives.

Short Description

"Is my mum doing okay right now?” This question is ever-present in the mind of informal caregivers. Feelings of burden, stress and, in some cases, even burn-out are common results of their manifold tasks. For reassurance of the assisted person’s wellbeing, regular phone calls or visits are the current solution, causing even more stress.

Most assisted persons do not want to put more burden on their informal caregiver or disturb them in their busy daily life and often perceive their own problems as minor.

A Lifestyle Product Which Fosters Wellbeing and Communication With this in mind, RelaxedCare has identified three goals:

To answer the question “Is my mum doing okay” in an easily comprehensible and unobtrusive way by providing wellbeing information.
To provide an easy way to stay connected with loved ones, with low communication barriers.
To combine these functions in an aesthetically designed lifestyle product that is fun to use, increasing the bonds within families.

The european Active and Assisted Living (AAL)-project RelaxedCare aimed to create an entirely new way of communicating and caring: allowing more communication from the assisted person’s side while unobtrusively keeping informal caregivers worry-free and informed about the assisted person’s state of wellbeing.

Smart Home System with Interactive Cube and App

The RelaxedCare system consists of an aesthetically designed cube and a smartphone app. The cube is connected to a smart home system installed at the assisted person’s home.

Innovative behaviour pattern recognition methods detect the user’s state of wellbeing, including activity level, social interaction and daily life routines. On the caregiver’s side, the state of wellbeing is displayed constantly via a corresponding indicator on the RelaxedCare cube and the app.

The cube also enables both sides to send simple messages using an innovative interaction design: placing tiles with specific icons on top of the cube. Asking for help, requesting a call or saying “I am thinking of you” has never been simpler than with RelaxedCare.

Project Partners

Consortium Manager

AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH

Participating Countries

Austria, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland

Contact Address

Project Coordinator

DI Dr Johannes Kropf
E-mail: johannes.kropf@ait.ac.at