Digital assistants accompany patients back to their home: international research group of “vCare” under the management of TU Dresden is testing tomorrow´s rehabilitation

Currently, more than one third among the over 75s Europeans suffer physical impairments, caused by life-style diseases such as cardiovascular diseases. Suffering a stroke or heart attack has a deep impact on the daily lives of the personally affected ones. After their first acute in-patient hospital stay, most patients rely on a longer, individually designed rehabilitation phase, especially when they return home. To reduce the risk of relapse and being able to live self-determined, an active and motivated change of affected patients´ lifestyle is necessary. Many affected people find that the adaption of dietary habits, smoking cessation or enhancement of more everyday physical activity, is very challenging.

With an international team of researchers under the leadership of experienced scientists of the TU Dresden, the EU-funded project “vCare” investigates, how data from the living environment, appropriate health information and a regular interaction with the affected patients can be linked intelligently to design a personalised transition from rehabilitation into home environment. The aim of this project is to improve the continuity of care, to prevent the disruption of monitoring in the home environment and to test future technologies in practice. “The necessary change of dietary and physical activity habits after rehabilitation is a long process, which is at the beginning accompanied by many participants from hospital or rehabilitation facilities. This undertaking often stops by returning to the home environment.”, explains Dr. Schlieter, head of the eHealth research group of the chair of Wirtschaftsinformatik, especially Systems Development.

Objective of “vCare” is therefore to develop a virtual coach, that assists, advises and motivates the patients according to his/her personal needs and skills. “One can imagine the coach as an avatar, which provides user-friendly and personalised exercises, games and feedback-functions. The virtual coach is able to adapt to initially defined physical, cognitive and social aims over time and to keep an eye on personal milestones” amplifies Dr. Schlieter.

The European Union supports the development and testing of the solution in four different European regions for the next four years with 4 million EUR.

Project title: Virtual Coaching Activities for Rehabilitation in Elderly (vCare)
Term: 01.09.2017-31.08.2021
Amount of funding: 4.044 Mio €
Funding body: EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, funding programme “Personal coaching for well-being and care of people as the age”

Partner:

• Technische Universität Dresden, Chair of Wirtschaftsinformatik, esp. Systems Development (TUD), Germany
• Stiftung FZI, Forschungszentrum Informatik am Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (FZI), Germany
• Casa di Cura Privata del Policlinico Spa (CCP), Milan, Italy
• Imaginary SRL (IMA), Milan, Italy
• AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH (AIT), Vienna, Austria
• TSB Real Time Location Systems SL (MYS), Valencia, Spain
• Servicio Vasco de Salud Osakidetza (OSA), VitoriaGasteiz, Spain
• Siveco Romania SA (SIV), Bucharest, Romania
• Universitatea de Medicina si Farmacie “Carol DaVila” din Bucuresti (UMFCD), Bucharest,
  Romania
• Aarhus Universitet (AU), Aarhus, Denmark
• Innovation Sprint (iSPRINT), Brussels, Belgium
• European Health Telematics Association (EHTEL), Brussels, Belgium

Press contact:
Dr. Hannes Schlieter
Technische Universität Dresden
Faculty of Business and Economics
Chair of Wirtschaftsinformatik, esp. Systems Developmentg
Tel.: +49 351 463-32173
E-Mail:

EPC contact:
Beate Brenner
Tel. +49 351 463 36092
E-Mail: