Home and Community

The Home and Community Team develops technologies to help people live more safely and independently in their own homes, and to assist family and professional caregivers. The team is also identifying ways for older people to move around the community safely, even in winter. Another area of focus is the growing problem of hospital-acquired infections. Researchers are now testing a novel hand hygiene prompting system that reminds healthcare workers to wash their hands. The team also prepares advanced equipment that researchers and industry partners can use to produce meaningful products for the market.

Team leader: Dr. Tilak Dutta

Current projects include:

• winter footwear that will help prevent slips and falls
• hand hygiene prompting technology to remind healthcare workers to wash their hands
• an electronic tool to help hospitals capture hand washing statistics efficiently and accurately
• development of an anti-collision wheelchair system for people with mild cognitive impairments
• testing of a hand-held device, called the SlingSerter, for placing lifting slings under immobile people
• development of a ride-on lifting robot, known as RoboNurse, that can lift very heavy patients
• a “curbless” approach for pedestrian crossings
• improvements to management of human waste in heathcare institutions

*The Home and Community Team is mostly made up of what used to be called the Technology Team

Click here to visit the Home and Community Team’s website.