Technology

The Technology Team develops technologies to help people live more safely and independently in their own homes, and to assist family and professional caregivers. The need is urgent; the first baby boomers reach 65 years of age in 2011, and they want to continue living at home. 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. Geoff Fernie

Current projects include:

a “curbless” approach for pedestrian crossings winter footwear that will help prevent slips and falls   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 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 improvements to management of human waste in heathcare institutions