Photo: Carola Berger 

Under the leadership of Andreas Jakl from the St. Pölten UAS’ Department of Media and Digital Technologies, a research team developed a smart vacuuming robot capable of helping older people in home emergencies.

“We want to prevent older people living alone from helplessly waiting for hours in case of an emergency. This is why we worked on developing an everyday device that provides aid fast”, explains Andreas Jakl.

Practical Benefit in Everyday Life

The “Smart Companion” uses a vacuuming robot’s sensors to detect potential dangers such as falling. The robot is combined with a voice assistant that allows for intuitive interaction, which means that users can call for help if they need it.

The project shows how research results can be directly put to practical use, thus offering true added value for society.

The Smart Companion was realised in collaboration with Robert Bosch AG, the Linz-based group of the Austrian Workers’ Samaritan Federation, and the Academy for Age Research at the ”Haus der Barmherzigkeit”. Andreas Jakl conducts research at the Institute of Creative\Media/Technologies and is Vice Academic Director of the degree programme Digital Healthcare. In addition to his research and teaching activities, he is part of the mobile developer community mobility.builders.