Problem

Loneliness in old age

Loneliness in old age is not only a current problem in Germany, with an estimate of eight million people being currently affected, but also one that will become increasingly relevant in the future due to the demographic change. Social neglect and secondary diseases, such as depression, are consequences of emotional loneliness in old age. Saam has set itself the task of tackling and mitigating this problem by offering people suffering from loneliness a social space and giving them the opportunity to get to know and maintain social contacts, despite physical distances, in order to build up a sustainable social network.

Research

Empathise

To get started, we first talked to Elke Schilling, who is the head of Silbernetz e.V. - a german telephone hotline for people who need somebody to talk to. Elke Schillings many yeas of experience, talking & supporting people in loneliness, helped us to better empathize with the target group. Based on this conversation we created our Persona Erna.

Concept

Enchanting the dining table

With Erna in mind we started to think of possibilites to integrate social interactions into the everyday life of our target group. We really liked the idea of re-establishing the dining table as a social space. In the next step we thought about how we could enchant the dining table with the help of ambient technologies. Ultimately, we decided to create a smart device called moderator.

Moderator

The moderator, is placed on the users' dining table and represents the heart of Saam. It creates an interactive user interface on the dining table through a projection. It has integrated speakers & microphones and is able to establish audio calls betweens users. In addition, the moderation element provides user assistance via an audio interface.

Interaction

Setting the table

Users can invite a person to their dining table by simply placing an additional plate on the spot, which is indicated by a plus symbol. The system then searches for a suitable person, taking into account preferences like age, interests or hobbies. Users can provide these preferences during the ordering process. Once a suitable person has been found, a connection is established. The two users can now talk and enjoy their meal together. Best case, the two get along so well that they want to stay in contact with each other. If this is the case, Saam offers the option of adding contacts to their personal circle of friends. To do this, the person can simply be dragged into the circle of friends, using the plate. From the circle of friends, the contact can easily be invited to the next meal. In this way, the user can build up a social network over time.

Product Trailer

Find friends with saam

Prototype

Detecting dishes

We implemented the projection as a physical installation. The prototype makes it possible to project the interface onto a table and to operate it with the help of plates. Since the interface of saam is operated by plates, it was necessary to detect the plates that are placed on the table and to continuously track their position. To make this possible Python was used together with the computer vision library OpenCV. The Python application communicates via a Flask web server and a socket connection with a Javascript client, which is responsible for rendering the visual interface.