GiraffPlus: a system for monitoring activities and physiological parameters and promoting social interaction for elderly

This chapter presents a telehealth system called GiraffPlus supporting independent living of elderly in their own home. GiraffPlus system is a complex system which monitors activities and physiological parameters in the home using a network of sensors. The elaborated information is presented to the primary user, the elderly, and to secondary users like health care and home care providers and possibly to family members as a help to assess possible health and wellbeing dete- rioration, provide acute alarms, and support health procedure. The secondary users can also visit the elderly via the Giraff, a teleoperated robot that can communicate and move in the home under the control of the secondary user. The chapter fo- cusses in particular on the deployment of the system in six real homes in Sweden, Italy and Spain. The chapter outlines the technological various components used, the expectations of the users and the evaluation method.