The ASsistive TechnOlogies and Silver Science Group within the Lab of Medical Physics has received major research and development focus in the field of Ambient Assisted Living and Biomedical Engineering or what is now called Active and Healthy Aging as well as technologies for Assisted Living for special target groups. It participates in the European Initiative on Active and Healthy aging (http://ec.europa.eu/research/innovation-union/index_en.cfm?section=activ...) as well as its Greek localised network activities (www.eiponaha.gr).

The group focuses on exploring shifting paradigms in elderly healthcare as well as care for developmental disorders and the different innovations and breakthroughs brought about by information communication technologies (ICT), mobile technologies and web technologies in general. The group consists of a diverse scientific pool ranging from collaborating healthcare experts such as medical doctors, neurologists/geriatricians/pediatricians, clinical neuropsychologists and academics all the way to technology experts such as electronics and software engineers, ICT specialists, programmers, mathematicians and physicists. Research in the ASOSS-RG follows several axes and expertise:

Serious Games

- design and development of tailor-made Body (Physical) and Mind (cognitive) training systems

- creation of system architectures introducing standard physical exercise protocols in exergaming software engineering, as well as, standard physical assessment tests for augmented adaptability through adjustable exercise intensity.

-next generation exergaming, automatically/smartly adaptive software.

-design and implementation of web-based scenarios as well as Cognitive and Physical training experimental designs within a gaming environment of a smart home setting targeting at at-risk populations such as elderly or children with developmental disorders (autism spectrum, Attention Deficit - Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), dyslecia etc).

-Development of new generation exergaming (tele-rehabilitation) systems designed for mobile, ubiquitous devices that increase motivation and maximise the training impact.

-Collection of user data as part of the game / measurements of motivation/engagement/effectiveness of the intervention in a dynamic way

-Multimodal, affective interfaces and affective avatar technology

-Investigation of how recent theories on gamification and neuroscience can be applied in contemporary mobile exergaming systems
 

Decision Support Systems

-Decision-Support Frameworks and Systems (DSS) based on predictive computer modelling for Promoting Independent Living and Ageing Well as well as Self management of health and disease

-Modelling, analysis, fusion and interpretation of patient and care provider data for improved decision making among formal and informal care givers, families and patients

- Modelling the complexity of co-morbidities and the sustainability of health and care systems.

-the use of DSS by healthcare professionals for personalised prediction and decision in prevention, diagnosis or treatment

-Evidence Based Active and Healthy Aging with ICT for early cognitive decline or depression detection and intervention
 

Internet Of Things

-Internet of Things; the Internet of Medical Things; the Internet of Active Aging Things

-Transparent cross platform enrichment and communication of data in Mobile Physical Exergaming systems for training the elderly or the disabled

-Exploitation of recently developed prototypes that leverage web technologies to expose multiple contemporary controller inputs for mobile based gaming

-Contemporary controller programming for preventive and rehabilitation interventions (control devices include inertial or pressure sensors (e.g. Wii balance board and remote control) as well as camera systems (MS Kinect) or even newer body/mind sensing devices like contemporary mobile EEG systems (e.g. Neurosky, Emotiv).
 

Mobile Health

-Mobile Health (mHealth) hybrid app development

-Mobile interfaces

-Mobile devices and web technologies leveraging and enabling more targeted and personalised exergames that support learning retention at a novice level.
 

Semantic Web

-the use of social media and semantic web to promote physical activity and to enable controller data enrichments

-development of suitable ontologies for profile modeling and suitable metadata for enrichment of controller and pilot data with semantic information

-Semantic web and linked open healthcare data; elderly data analytics
 

Care giver support

-Experiential learning strategies in supporting and empowering care givers

-Open data research protocols for disease management
 

Pilot Experience

-Patient adherence to care plans, interventions and treatments and development of (mobile) patient-oriented systems and services to support patient empowerment

-Non pharmacological new therapies and interventions based on early risk detection and ideas for integrated care

-6231 sessions of piloting cognitive and physical training (blended with exergames and cognitive games), each of them lasting for approximately 60 mins, during the LLM project

-pilots on activities of daily living
 

Datasets

-Semantic web and linked open healthcare data; elderly data analytics

-1TB database of Kinect (RGB and Skeleton) in conjunction with Wii Balance Board data (ready to be streamed) of daily living (pilots with elderly) in an ecologically valid lab environment (living lab, e-home)

-Serious games results of 6231 sessions, each of them lasting for approximately 60 mins, during the LLM project

-Behaviour and Social Informatics data for cognitive decline prevention and disease control