ECHOES: encouraging companionship, home organization, and entertainment in seniors

The ECHOES project (Encouraging Companionship, Home Organization, and Entertainment in Seniors), is focused on understanding and improving aspects of companionship in senior populations aged sixty-five years and older. Individuals in this age range commonly experience the loss of close friends and life partners. Furthermore, they are at risk of suffering from feelings of loneliness and depression. The project team consulted with several experts on aging in order to better understand the target population. The team followed an iterative design process which included focus groups and field studies. Potential design possibilities were identified and a final design prototype was chosen after several rounds of usability testing. The proposed system includes "TeleTable," an interactive table-based device that offers intuitive means of arranging and organizing digital media. The TeleTable also functions in a communicative capacity, encouraging individuals to interact with each other by playing simple games, conversing verbally, and exchanging digital photos with each other. This system also includes the "Pitara," a portable device enabling the association of physical mementos and keepsakes to digital media which adds a mobility, lifetime sharing and storytelling aspect to the TeleTable.