Internet of Things and Elderly: Quantitative and Qualitative Benchmarking of Smart Objects

Population aging and related healthcare costs already are a problem to face and will increasingly become an even more serious issue. This phenomenon triggers important social changes, highlighting the urgency of finding new dynamics and services also for the Home Care and Healthcare field. The spreading of smart objects and the Internet of Things it is possible to improve the quality of services and device performance for monitoring qualitative and quantitative parameters of elderly people with the ultimate goal of improving their quality of life. The paper therefore proposes to perform a competitive benchmarking between the selected products and the needs identified in the Habitat project, in order to determine its effectiveness; moreover, the correspondence to the needs will be evaluated from a qualitative and quantitative point of view. This work, in addition to provide a lucid and specific market analysis of the studied products, will help to identify the critical points and strengths of the smart objects. Its ultimate goal is to develop a comprehensive needs framework which provides a solid foundation in making new smart object prototypes for old people.