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Wednesday, 27 September 2017

Alexa as a home help?

I was having a discussion with my mum about getting a fall alarm, and there are different options available. These systems give you some kind of button to press which causes your phone to dial predetermined phone numbers so that someone can come round to help you get up.

I wondered if it might be possible to use Alexa (or one of the other similar products) as a similar system. A quick bit of online looking tells me that Alexa has a number of skills which you can enable. One of these appears to allow you to do this, using the "My Family SOS" skill:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B071VDMPJ2. You say the phrase "Alexa open my SOS family" and it will start calling your list one number at a time.

It strikes me that you might need to test how far from the speaker you can be for it to work well, and you might need to think about moving the speaker nearer the areas where you have a higher risk of falling, or having more than one speaker around your house. This could represent a disadvantage.

On the advantage side it would mean that you wouldn't need to remember to put your fall bracelet/necklace on.

It strikes me that these voice activated speakers could be a bigger help than this. Others think so too. Here's an article where a blind person considers how Alexa could help the disabled:
https://www.abilitynet.org.uk/news-blogs/how-do-alexa-and-amazon-echo-help-disabled-people

Another article on how Alexa could help all kinds of people:
https://verysmartgadget.com/amazon-echo-people-disability/

Just for clarity, I dont have one of these.

Update 28/9: Another, more comprehensive system: http://www.zdnet.com/article/trusense-aging-in-place-system-passively-monitors-independent-seniors/

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