Assistive Mat
The Assistive Mat is a floor mat designed to help care for elders. Embedded with pressure sensors, when stepped on it sends a text message to let family members know when their elder loved one is up and may need some extra help getting around. It was created in Fall 2015.
The project was designed for my 92-year-old grandfather who was transitioning from living independently to moving his life across the country to live with my family. He loved sitting on the couch, drinking his coffee and reading the newspaper for hours.
After sitting for hours, when he got up to use the restroom or make food, he would become faint and fall down. In order to prevent this, my family members would hover around him and ask him if he needed help getting up. He hated being treated like a 3-year-old. So I decided to design something that could mediate this situation.
Concept Development
My grandfather at 92-years-old
The first system diagram for how the mat would work
Since he would sit for long periods, I thought that placing a mat at his feet might help. I designed the mat using conductive tape to act as a pressure sensor which foam in between to break the circuit when no pressure was applied to the mat. When you stepped on the mat the the conductive tape would connect.
Soft-Circuitry
Sketch of how the mat would work with the materials and electrical components.
Connecting thing strips of conductive tape in rows to pieces of canvas
Adhering a spongy material with holes to separate conductive tape and create cushion effect.
To trigger the text message, we used an Arduino Uno, radio frequency micro chip, and a GSM blutooth module. When the mat was stepped on it sent a text message to my grandpa’s care giver letting them know he “was on the move”.
Physical Computing
All of the electronic components: arduino uno, bluefruit gsm module, Motino radio controller.
User testing with my grandfather.
Final Outcomes
To complete the functionality of the mat and make it look better, I added a removable rug on top so that part could be easily removed for washing. I also added a rubber underside so that the mat would not slip.
