About InPe
InPe is a simple device that helps taking care of someone in case they fall down. The device is designed as a wearable that calls the caregiver and sends sms with coordinates, in order for them to come and help the person who fell down. Inspired by true stories, InPe, serves different needs such as elderly parents living by themselves, or helping a caregiver in a community center.
Story telling was an important factor in understanding and elaborating on problems. One of the project participants in the codesign sessions described a personal story where she lost her mother because she fell down while she was alone, and couldn’t ask for immediate help. The mother indeed, had a solution of a necklace which can send an alarm to police/friends, but she didn’t wear, because the device wasn’t user friendly. Ideas were published on Edgeryders, and given certain criterias, it was selected.
InPe Development
WeMake team is developing InPe as an open source hardware wearable device that could be replicated by others who might need it. As of summer 2016 a first prototyping phase has started, please keep an eye on blog for further developments.
The Process
Below you can find different links that will help you tracking the process InPe’ has originated from.
- MARCH - APRIL 2016_Together with Municipality of Milan, WeMake met different communities of milanese citizens, to talk about opencare:
- MARCH - APRIL 2016_Simultaneously we also organized some workshops to introduce digital technologies applied to care topics:
- MAY 2016_During this month WeMake and the Municipality of Milan organized three co-design sessions: -First session (ENG)
- JUNE 2016 - ONGOING_After selecting In Pe’ for the prototyping phase we started developing it:
How to contribute
Bug reporting and contributions are managed via Github issues. Please find more details here Do you want to contribute to opencare? Fill in this form!
What is opencare?
Opencare is an EU initiative that is meant to explore open hardware solutions that tackle the notion of care. How do we care for others, how do we receive care, how do we care for ourselves, were questions that were researched in order to define a problem and its solution. opencare is a collaborative project between: University of Bordeaux, Scimpulse, Edgeryders, EHF, Municipality of Milan, and Wemake.
WeMake is a makerspace in Milan, they are the partners in charge of the physical development and implementation of the prototype. All development and documentation are produced and maintained by WeMake team.
Opencare process
The Opencare process has been open and collaborative since day one. The strategy went as follow:
- Targeting potential users (elderly, special needs, etc)
- Organizing meetings in order to introduce the project to potential users
- Organizing co-design sessions with the users, in order to help them articulate problems and brainstorm some ideas for it
- Sharing problems and solutions with a wider audience, then selecting one after feedback and tech evaluation criteria In line with the activities planned in Milan, we had a parallel track of online community communications on the Edgryders.eu platform The team has published more detailed info about the process in the playbook here. A simple guide to replicate the process and learn more about its details.
FAQ
- Who funds opencare?
opencare is a 2 years project processed under Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program. The project has received 1.6 million euro by European Commission in order to work, from January 2016 to December 2017, on fundamental aspects such as: community driven care services, open discussions and maker technologies. You can read the details related to the project’s funds on European Commission website, and the full description of the partition of funds and activities among Partners on the opencare proposal.
- Who is the WeMake opencare team?
WeMake is a makerspace based in Milan (Italy) and provides a series of innovative services and training to the creative community of the region in the field of digital and traditional manufacturing, high-value technologies and access to a fully equipped Fab Lab. The aim is to foster the development of a new model of designer-producer (maker) and small-scale company by facilitating the engineering phase, the rapid iteration of design solutions, the on-demand production of physical/digital artifacts.
The Staff currently working on opencare project is composed by:
Costantino Bongiorno Alessandro Contini Silvia D’Ambrosio Moushira Elamrawy Chiara Ferrero Cristina Martellosio Elisabetta Mori Zoe Romano
- I like the project how can I be further involved?
Everyone is more than welcome to contribute to the project. If you want to participate you can fill this contact form, specifying the reasons of your interest or you can directly write an email to opencare [at] wemake.cc. In both cases a WeMake Staff member will reply you as soon as possible.
- Can I replicate your prototype?
Please follow full documentation on our github repo
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How can I learn more about upcoming activities WeMake coordinates different communication channels related to opencare project, you can choose the ones that mostly satisfy your thirst for knowledge:
- NEWSLETTER (ITA): to receive invitations to events, information and weekly updates about the European project and the prototype itself;
- WORKSPACE (ENG): in order to communicate directly with opencare partners on Edgeryders’ platform;
- BLOG (ITA): to have access to opencare’s personal journal and report, with in-depth information about past and future events, case studies and more.
- LANDING PAGE (ITA - ENG coming soon): to be informed about what has been done so far and to have a complete overview of WeMake’s involvement within the project.