Activity laboratory
The purpose of the activity laboratory is to develop technology and methods to support everyday activities in the home environment. The goal is for people with disabilities to be able to live a rich life for as long as possible. The activity laboratory therefore has new technology for studying activity to develop both technology, assessment methods and interventions.
The activity laboratory will be used in both research and teaching about assessment of needs as well as measures for people to function in their daily activities in the home environment. The activity laboratory also functions as an environment for testing, innovation, development and demonstration together with municipalities, regions and companies as well as interest groups.
Where is the Activity Laboratory?
The activity laboratory is located at the Department of Health, Learning and Technology at Luleå University of Technology. It is implemented in an apartment which is used for teaching mainly in occupational therapy and nursing. The apartment consists of a kitchen and living room, a bedroom and study, a bathroom.
What is in the Activity Laboratory?
The environment in the Activity Laboratory is adaptable to different needs. Kitchen and bathroom equipped with height-adjustable sections (sinks, cabinets and work surfaces) and the bathroom has an automatic bidet toilet with drying function. The bed in the bedroom is fully electrically adjustable. The workplace provides the opportunity for ergonomic adaptation.
In addition to this, there are digital welfare technology and aids to support activities in the home environment. In the Activity Laboratory, people's position, posture and vital physiological parameters can be monitored through various sensor systems and video.
What can be measured in the Activity Laboratory?
The laboratory is equipped with technology that is partly integrated into the environment and which can be carried by people. There are several systems in the environment for positioning people and things, for example through active tracking of worn sensors or through passive tracking with ceiling-mounted sensor systems. A video-based system can monitor people's activity in the environment through fixed and moving cameras and microphones. In addition, there are several sensor systems, both fixed (passive) and portable (active), to monitor physiological parameters such as heart rate, respiration (breathing), movement (muscle activity), stress (skin conductance), eye movement (eye-tracking) and cerebral activity (electrical patterns of the brain).
The activity laboratory - A smart home
The activity laboratory is designed as the next generation of "smart homes" where as many parameters as possible around a person's activity can be followed with different types of systems. The lab has passive systems that are integrated into the environment as well as active systems that are carried by the person. Taken together, all of these technical devices provide a large amount of data that can be integrated into a data analysis and control system.