The purpose of this project is to allow the caregivers of dementia and Alzheimer’s patients to have a new way of interacting with a patient and all caregivers of a patient. This will be done by creating a system using hardware and software in a cost-efficient method to ensure it is accessible by anyone who believes it could be a benefit. In order to do this, three key components must be created. An API which will allow patients and caregivers to interact, a patient system which will display information to a patient while sending details about their environment to the caregivers, and a system which allows caregivers to interact with a patient’s schedule and set limits for when they would like to be alerted about the patient’s environment. Research was carried out to determine the best way to help the caregivers while not adding unnecessary stress to the patient.
AKAL began as a passion project to help a family member with vascular dementia. While at the time I wasn't knowledgeable enough nor did I have enough time to create such a system, it was the beginning of the planning for this project. At the end of my degree, with thanks to my supervisor Dr Padilla Stefano, I was able to begin to realize this dream as my dissertation.
The key goal to AKAL has always been to ensure it will be available to anyone who could benefit from the system. This is what lead to many of the decisions to use cheaper optionssuch as a Raspberry Pi instead of more advanced hardware solutions.
More information about AKAL can be found in my blog post here.
AKAL is now an archived project that most likely will not be touched upon again due to lack of time now that I am starting a job. While I would love to continue the dream of an affordable solution which may help Alzheimer’s and Dementia, I feel I cannot without financial backing to allow me to work on AKAL as a full time job. If this is something you would be interested in, or you would simply like to add to this project and continue to develop it, feel free to reach out and see if I can help out in any way as the end goal of AKAL is to help others.
One way to help encourage me to continue this project is to leave a star, or give it a shot and raise an issue with anything you think could be added or improved.
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