A user interface design for the elderly using a projection tabletop system

We present a design of a user interface on a projection tabletop system for the elderly. Nowadays, the population imbalance between the elderly who require daily care and caregivers is being one of global social issues since the population aging advances. Additionally, if the amount of the elderly with memory problem increases, the imbalanced situation makes the elderly worse because of few caregivers, then a negative chain reaction would be occurred. In order to avoid the worst situation, we believe that it is important to support the daily lives of the elderly persons at the early stage for reducing aging effects. In this research, we challenge to develop the internet-connected assistive system to support their daily lives individually in order to help them manage their time without the need for caregivers support on location.

We focus on projection technology to display visual information onto physical surfaces such as tables or walls especially for indoor use. The projection technology does not require embedding other displays such as LCD into tables or walls that the users have already owned, and to hold or wear the special devices in hands or on heads. Also we apply interactive functions for the design that lets the users think and decide by themselves, since the quality of lives of the elderly needs to be considered to keep them from just following the given instruction without thinking. Finally, we have decided three designs of graphical user interface on the projection tabletop system through a brief user test. In this paper we show the thee different interaction methods based on the graphical user interface designs and one of augmented reality applications as an example of a practical use of the system.