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Rhine district of Neuss/Mönchengladbach/district of Viersen/Krefeld. A mini robot with big round eyes that reads your favorite book independently. A fully automated care bed with integrated scales that even measures your heart rate and switches on a soft light when you have to get up at night or reports when you fall out of bed. Or a ball that glows in different colors and reacts to voices. These are just some of the technical tools that can support the care of people with assistance needs in the future. Employees of the St. Augustinus Group’s help for the disabled were able to test and use these and many other applications this week.
This is made possible by TruDi, the “truck of digitization”. Funded by the federal government, he brings a fully digitized patient room for demonstration purposes to where care and assistance are to be supported by digitization in the future. “In order to enable our clients to participate digitally, we have already equipped our facilities technically well,” says Heike Schellhaas, manager of the Disabled Aid. “This includes, for example, WLAN in all areas, laptops for the facilities, special barrier-free computers and training courses in using computers and the Internet. Now we are using the digitization truck to look at what else is available to enable our residents to have more participation and self-determination and for our employees to be able to relieve the burden of providing assistance.”
On the one hand, there is a choice of support tools with which people with a need for assistance can work independently and train cognitive skills. These include sensory games, devices with music or reading function. On the other hand, it includes care tools such as the digital underlay for the mattress, which indicates when it comes into contact with liquids such as urine. There are tools that can detect and track movement, making unaccompanied walks possible. “For us, it’s about helping people who need assistance to become more independent. An easy-to-use navigation device or a mobile positioning system in a wristwatch, for example, can mean freedom and self-determination,” says Heike Schellhaas.
The aim is not to reduce the human factor in care or assistance through the use of robotics. It’s about being able to decide for yourself again, for example when your own room should be vacuumed, because the vacuum robot is always ready for use. For people who provide assistance, such applications mean relief and more time for those who need more than just digital assistance.
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