Grupo Saltó is very happy to announce that we are the winners of the 5G challenge from the Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation.
On Wednesday, Grupo Saltó was awarded one of the two prizes under the 5G challenge organized by the Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation in the Saló de Cròniques of Barcelona City Council. The prize, worth 100,000 euros, will allow us to develop a pilot project with people over 65 who live alone in Barcelona and are users of the Barcelona City Council’s Home Care Service.
SOMCARE is the name of the winning proposal, which is based on improving the quality of life of the elderly through technology. This is by means of a care robot capable of moving and interacting with the user in order to support their daily needs and companionship.
The SOMCARE project recreates a platform for care, support and safety for the elderly. A care robot is placed in their home communicates with them, asking questions about their daily habits such as their medication, food, and health in general.This information is then sent through 5G on the SOM platform. Data capture on the platform enables a series of actions to be taken such as generating mobile device warnings for family members or caregivers, activating other service requests, generating alerts, among others. The challenge addressed responds to the problem of providing care for the elderly through the use of technological solutions in the field of IoT and with the use of technology, putting it at the service of people, humanising it.
The challenge “Improving quality of life for the elderly (at home) through Technology” received 53 proposals from a total of 14 countries, including France, Sweden, the United States, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, Great Britain and China. Fifty percent of the participants were international companies and entrepreneurs.
In selecting the winners, it was considered that the technological solutions proposed would strengthen the development of new services, overcoming barriers to access more personalised services and economic accessibility. It has also been taken into account that the projects would take advantage of the immediacy, almost unlimited real-time connectivity and low power consumption that 5G technology permits.
The challenge began last February, with 5G as the background technological framework, seeking solutions both nationally and internationally to improve the quality of life of older people through the use of technology. For the definition of the project, Grupo Saltó, the MWCapital Foundation and the Barcelona City Council worked together with the Social Rights Area to understand the needs of users. The Institute of Robotics for Dependency (IRD) and the I2CAT Foundation also participate as technological partners in the implementation of the pilot project.
