This work illustrates an innovative localisation sensor network that uses multiple PIR and ultrasonic sensors installed on a mobile social robot to localise occupants in indoor environments. The system presented aims to measure movement direction and distance to reconstruct the movement of a person in an indoor environment by using sensor activation strategies and data processing techniques. The data collected are then analysed using both a supervised (Decision Tree) and an unsupervised (K-Means) machine learning algorithm to extract the direction and distance of occupant movement from the measurement system, respectively. Tests in a controlled environment have been conducted to assess the accuracy of the methodology when multiple PIR and ultrasonic sensor systems are used. In addition, a qualitative evaluation of the system’s ability to reconstruct the movement of the occupant has been performed. The system proposed can reconstruct the direction of an occupant with an accuracy of 70.7% and uncertainty in distance measurement of 6.7%.

In this paper, a new ecosystem to support older adults and their caregivers in an indoor living environment is proposed. The GUARDIAN ecosystem is designed to address the different needs of end users in different countries. The ecosystem consists of a socially assistive robot (SAR), including sensors, and two mobile applications (one for caregivers and one for the older user). Starting from a user-centred and value-sensitive co-design approach, three key user requirements have been identified: monitoring, reminding, and social companionship. User requirements were translated into technical requirements to develop a flexible system architecture. Usability tests were performed to verify the satisfaction level about the GUARDIAN concept. User tests were carried out in three different countries involving 13 older adults, 14 informal carers and 15 formal carers showing that the proposed ecosystem satisfies the user requirements. These results confirm the feasibility of the application of the GUARDIAN ecosystem in living indoor environments.