AI elderly care comes to the community: Xuhui Hongmei Subdistrict in Shanghai opens AI experience classes at a school for seniors, with over 60% of participants being elderly people

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Bringing the AI experience zone into the senior school right at people's doorsteps, the most precious thing is not the dazzling array of high-tech equipment, but giving older people a low-threshold opportunity to "dare to touch, dare to try, dare to ask." Whether technology-enabled elderly care is good or not must ultimately be answered by looking at the everyday feelings of ordinary residents.

At the lifelong education experience center in Hongmei Subdistrict, Xuhui District, a series of public welfare lectures and community courses on different themes of "AI + elderly care" are held right in the community where residents can reach on foot; many uncles and aunts can cross the street to attend classes and try things out. Here, AI is not a remote exhibit in a museum: some put on hearing aid devices to test their hearing, and learn the FAST recognition mnemonic in a stroke awareness class; some elders with limited mobility try wearing lower-limb exoskeleton assistive devices and slowly practice stepping; everyone gathers around the brain-training all-in-one machine to play spot-the-difference and card-flipping mini-games, and the soft Linda companion robot is always available for voice chat and health reminders; many elders also follow the teacher to learn phone AI photo editing and one-tap photo output, turning photos into short videos to share with relatives and friends. The AI magic mirror lets elders monitor their physical condition on their own without leaving the community. The aunties experience the fun of AI photography and feel young again.

Some smart call panels on the market have many functions, but the buttons are crowded and the screen fonts are too small, so older people fiddle with the panel for ages and still cannot figure out how to operate it; some companion robots can make video calls and broadcast health data, but elders are more used to radios in daily life and rarely turn them on proactively. From the perspective of older residents, what everyone cares about is never how advanced the technology is, but whether the thing is practical and easy to use. The course list of the Hongmei Subdistrict Community (Senior) School has been built up bit by bit following the needs of elders: everyone cares about stroke rehabilitation, hearing decline, fall prevention, and intestinal health, so corresponding awareness and experience classes are scheduled one after another. Among the more than a dozen smart science popularization activities held recently, more than 60 percent of the residents served were older people. Residents with limited mobility try on lower-limb exoskeleton devices. Elders take part in various brain-training mini-games, exercising memory and judgment through fun interaction.

Of course, the AI experience zone at the doorstep also faces real problems that cannot be avoided. Experiencing something is one thing; actually taking it home for long-term use is another. Some smart devices for elders are not cheap, and ordinary families may wonder whether they can afford them; whether the simplification of device operation is sufficient, and whether it can adapt to older people's usage habits; AI can assist with health reminders, rehabilitation training, and brain exercise, but it cannot replace the warmth of mutual help among neighbors and companionship from family. Technology is only a tool; elderly care cannot be entirely entrusted to machines. Older residents put on the devices and tour the Great Wall in the cloud without leaving Shanghai.

What is valuable about this experience zone is that it breaks out of the simple model of "setting up equipment and doing check-ins," and relies on the senior school to create a combined experience of "public welfare lectures + on-site experience." The subdistrict provides the venue, the community organizes sign-ups, volunteers provide one-on-one assistance throughout, and caring enterprises contribute their efforts, bringing rehabilitation assistive devices, brain-training equipment, AI companion robots, and hands-on phone classes right before residents' eyes.

Technology ultimately serves people. The "AI + elderly care" experience zone does not need to rush to pursue eye-catching results. By crouching down more to listen to older people's real complaints and needs, keeping face-to-face explanation and companionship, and letting technology adapt to elders' lives rather than forcing elders to adapt to technology, smart elderly care at the doorstep can truly move steadily and go far. article_adlist[

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Reporter: Yang Yixiu

Editor: Chen Haixiao

Please indicate the source as the official Shanghai Xuhui account when reposting ]article_adlistarticle_adlist[

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