Loneliness poses a growing risk to resident well-being and community vitality, particularly in low-population-density environments where organic social interactions are less frequent. Staff are often overstretched, making constant engagement and event facilitation challenging.
The business stream aims to enhance the overall sustainability of the Franklin Retirement Village in Oceania. From the brief and the field trip to their apartment-style Meadowbank site, we see that there are many effective existing sustainability and community initiatives; however, there is a reliance on the organic connection between the residents and the staff formed from simply being in close proximity to each other. This suggests a potential issue for the villa-style Franklin site, where we anticipate a 75% decrease in population density. It is also important to note that according to secondary research and the project partners, a portion of the older adults are not willing to engage with mobile app-based interventions, leading us to the how might we statement:
Given the proximity of villa-style living, how might we maintain community cohesion and foster engagement with existing facilities and initiatives without the need for a graphical interface?
This project proposes a voice-interactive robot as an auxiliary point of contact between residents and staff. Unlike conventional app-based interventions, a low learning curve user experience is achieved with natural language interactions enhanced by gaze interactions instead of convoluted UIs.
ROOT units encourage engagement with community programs and facilities by providing the residents with up-to-date information at home and filling gaps in staffing in facilities that do not warrant constant human staff presence. They also serve as an easily accessible touchpoint for sustainability-related information, such as recycling or energy conservation, lowering the mental load of adapting sustainable practices.
By promoting social connection and engagement with existing eco-friendly initiatives, the ROOT system enhances community well-being and the long-term sustainability of the village.
