AI based app 'CARE4U' developed by IIT KGP Students aims towards better elderly care

IIT Kharagpur students have developed an app called 'CARE4U' that is aimed at providing support to geriatric care by aiding the caretakers to reach out to the elderly people on time. The students of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur have developed two interconnected android smartphone apps to ensure better elderly care practices as told by an official of the institute. An interdisciplinary team of the 2nd year B.Tech students at IIT KGP has developed 'CARE4U' with the aim of connecting the caretakers to the elderly people. Of the two interconnected applications developed by these students, one can be downloaded on the phone of the elderly people and the other on the phone of the caretaker.

The app has a neural network-based fall detection algorithm that can detect if the elderly person has fallen down. And if there is a fall, it will automatically call the caregiver and the emergency services within the location of the concerned elderly person. Some of the other prominent features of the app are that it can detect emotions by taking a picture and calculating the mood index of the person. To make this feature more effective the team has developed a cognitive intelligence chatbot for the elderly people to engage with. It also has a medicine reminder feature that helps both the elderly person as well as the caregiver that it is time for their medicine.

Kanishka Haldar, a team member from the Department of Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering said that they customized the app to recognize the current mood of the person and accordingly fine-tune its conversation with that of the person. He explained with an example stating that the chatbox can recommend a motivational quote or an old song when the person is sad. Apart from this, the app can also do activities such as making a call, send a text, book a cab and various other tasks. Furthermore, it also holds a record of the medical history of a person such as his account of allergies, SOS button, real-time location tracking, etc. IIT KGP students recently won the first runners up position at a nationwide hackathon called vesAlthon' 19 for CARE4U.