Companion apps for active lifestyle

• Main Author: Deng, Yuan
• Other Authors: Tan Ah Hwee
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Computer science and engineering::Computer applications
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/64851
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

With the rise of personal computers and smartphones, technology is playing an increasingly important role in people’s life. Yet many senior citizens are not able to enjoy the benefits of technology due to lack of technology prowess. Moreover, many senior citizens today also have unfulfilled physical, social, emotional and cognitive needs, which reduce the level of happiness in their lives and negatively impact their health. This project aims to create a companion mobile application called Smart Butler that addresses these problems, so that senior citizens can tap on the benefits of technology and lead an active life. Smart Butler has two main functions. Firstly, it makes technology easier to use for senior citizen by providing convenient access to various online services, such as social networking sites and online banking. Secondly, Smart Butler encourages active living of senior citizen and takes care of senior citizen’s unfulfilled needs. It does so by sending context-based messages to senior citizen and allows senior citizen to interact with the messages by sending their responses. As an extension of a previous final year project that creates Smart Butler, this project refines and improves Smart Butler in several aspects. Firstly, the project makes improvements on the original user interface so that it becomes more user-friendly and looks more aesthetic. Secondly, this project enriches the database of rules that allows Smart Butler to detect various different contexts of user and interact with user using context-based messages and response options. Finally, this project implements some of the written rules through changes to PHP scripts and database structure. Through these works, Smart Butler is now able to provide convenient access of online services to senior citizens, and take care of their physical, social, emotional, and cognitive needs in life. In the world where technology has become more important than ever yet senior citizens are losing the touch of it, it is hoped that Smart Butler could become a step towards empowering senior citizens to tap on the huge benefits of technology and lead a life that is happy, healthy and active.