Introduction 

The PHArA-ON project’s overarching goal is to support Europe’s aging population by combining digital services and tools into open platforms that can be quickly implemented while preserving older persons’ dignity and boosting their independence, safety, and skills. Connected technologies (e.g., the Internet of Things, IoT), artificial intelligence, robotics, cloud and edge computing, smart wearables, big data, and cognitive analytics will all be used in the project to enable tailored and efficient health care delivery. 

Maastricht Instruments is actively involved in PHArA-ON’s Dutch and Andalusian pilot. Maastricht Instruments implements a novel physical activity monitoring product for the participants in the project; the Miss Activity Monitor. The monitor features personalized analytics that provide older adults and their caregivers with the most pertinent physical activity information. Next to that, interoperability with supporting health platforms and user-friendly human-computer interaction are key objectives.   

Andalusian Pilot 

The Andalusian pilot aims to make technology more accessible and user-pleasant for older people. They achieve this by increasing their confidence in technology and including them in product and service evaluations to enhance and adapt them. Sentab’s Vanilla application has been tested on a tablet as one of the technologies employed. Sentab for tablet and Miss Activity will be tested in the pilot phase, and compatibility will be established. In the Andalusian pilot, pre-validation sessions were held in person in the social centers of the communities during two-hour workshops that followed the agreed-upon procedure.  

Dutch Pilot

The PlusBus of the National Foundation for the Elderly is the main subject of the Dutch trial. The PlusBus is an elderly mobility service with over a hundred locations throughout the Netherlands. It organizes trips to the supermarket, as well as cultural and social activities such as summer days at the beach and museum visits, to bring older people together. Older PlusBus riders want the service to be enhanced by the ability to stay connected online after an activity, as well as the ability to stay physically fit so that they may continue to participate in PlusBus events. The goal of the Dutch pilot is to help PlusBus customers achieve their goals of remaining connected and staying fit by expanding the PlusBus’ services.

A range of integrated technologies is being added to the PlusBus’ services. These technologies include: Regicare message pages for PlusBus activities (AdSysCo); PACO, a virtual food and cooking coach (RRD); and MISS Activity. They’re all available through the RegiCare client interface (AdSysCo). Additionally, the use of these technologies begins with the wizard (RRD), which is also available on this portal. Conversational agent Robin assists the user in getting started with the wizard.

Users of the PlusBus were tested on the usability of the technologies during pre-validation sessions. Users were able to experience the complete range of technology by completing a series of tasks. Users suggested various improvements, which have been implemented (e.g., increase contrast to better readability). The sessions were held online due to COVID 19 constraints.

In an evaluation study, PlusBus users’ satisfaction with and practicality of the PlusBus-extension will be assessed. For one year, fifty PlusBus users will be able to use the technology.

Main updates to the Miss Activity monitor in Q1 2022

  • The MISS activity app was transformed from Dutch only to a multilingual app. The MISS activity app is now translated in Spanish and English

  • Layout improvements to increase readability of the MISS Activity. Increasing contrast by means of background color adaptations and font size adaptations.
  • Developed an API and webservice to connect the Miss Activity physical activity data to other platforms.
  • Redesigned app frontend to allow authentication according to OAuth
  • Optimization of the stepcount algorithm to eliminate false positives is activity data.
  • Performed a Data Protection Impact assessment

Dutch Pilot connectivity update

MISS Activity is connected via OAuth to the AdSysCo Regicare portal, partner in Pharaon. By means of matchmaking algorithms, physical activity levels of participating persons is sent to the AdSysCo Regicare API. The connectivity shares the following parameters:

  • Average of daily total of active minutes for the last 6 days
  • Time of last synchronization of sensor to mobile application

Connected partners can now determine the following person profiles:

Activity Category Persona
<28 min/day 1 350 steps per day. Small accommodation, amount of standing and active minutes is low
28-48 min/day 2 Functionally necessary activities, e.g. independent grocery shopping. Amount of standing and active minutes both > 10 min
48-85 min/day 3 Some gardening, 15 min/day exercise program in front of TV
>85 min/day 4 Organised cycling or walking in group of seniors, 30 min/day actional movement

Andalusian pilot connectivity update

MISS Activity is in the Andalusian Pilot connected to Minsait via the MISS Activity API. The MISS Activity API allows partners to retrieve MISS Activity data, which are currently the following summary data:

Retrieve summary of user’s activity per day. The following parameters are present:

Parameter Unit description
TIMESTAMP Date, Time Date and time of activity data, format: <yyyy-MM-dd, HH:mm>
DAY Number Day count since the start of measurement
SEDENTARY Seconds Day total classification of sedentary posture (sitting and lying down)
STANDING Seconds Day total classification of standing posture
DYNAMIC Seconds Day total classification of dynamic activity
STEPS Number Day total of number of steps

Example:

TIMESTAMP DAY SEDENTARY STANDING DYNAMIC STEPS
2021-11-23,23.59 1 77876 6338 2102 1345
2021-11-23,23.59 2 75324 5884 5108 1502
2021-11-23,23.59 3 77870 4988 3458 2513