Enhanced Care Service through Improved Mobility for Elderly People (Grey But Mobile) is about improving care-related mobility services for the elderly supporting independent living and social connectivity.

Today, elderly live in their homes longer, predominantly because of improved home care. For reasons of efficiency and costs, this is considered a good development, but it has a downside too. Elderly often live alone and solitude is regarded to be a main cause of health problems. Keeping elderly socially connected and involved, requires them to remain mobile. However, current mobility solutions do not cater specifically for this group.

Mobile-care projects are currently being initiated in the context of the organization of services. A major constraint is the availability of dedicated vehicle-designs and interfaces between services and the means of mobility. A new class of vehicles is envisaged that will specifically relate to the needs of this age group: mobile solutions that will match the environmental, physical, mental and societal needs of the elderly.

Teams from 3 universities and Industry partners are working together to answer the questions:

• What role does mobility play in the social integration of the elderly and what are their physical mobility needs?
• What artefacts are currently available for the mobility of the elderly, which functions do they fulfil, and what is their quality?
• How does the service structure for the elderly currently function and what are the constraints?
• What PSS solutions can be developed to address the findings?
• How can technology be utilized to improve elderly mobility?
• What will the effect of these solutions (PSS)  be on the elderly, themselves?

The Research Associates who are currently working on this project are Heather Daam and Maartje van Gestel