MOTIVA aims to overcome these limitations by developing innovative ICT solutions for the autonomous measurement of the SPPB test and the intensity of the exercises. Assessing older adult’s functional status via the SPPB and assessing their performance during their VIVIFRAIL exercising sessions requires movement analysis techniques.

There are various approaches to movement analysis depending on the technology they use to capture the input data. In our previous ActiveUP project, we already developed a low-cost, wearable and IoT compatible inertial device which has already gone into industrial design and manufacturing by the Spanish electronics company Televes. Within the ActiveUP project as well, we developed a UbiHome system which is an edge computing system for the Internet of Things (IoT) that operates as a wireless network that comprises sensors, an edge node, and a gateway with an Internet connection. Data processing modules transform raw data into clinically relevant information, thus reducing the amount of information that must be transmitted over the Internet. Thus, MOTIVA already has an infrastructure for the data capturing stage, and the focus will be on the algorithms to process that data for functional and performance assessment. 

In MOTIVA, we will take advantage of the fact that most of the activities in both the SPPB and the VIVIFRAIL programme involve some kind of repetitive movement, which according to our previous experience, provides enough constraints to fight the effects of noise. However, we still need to design and validate a sensor to autonomously measure the balance, to complete the SPPB test; and adapt the IMU position and algorithms to detect movements to assess performance during the exercises, overcoming the first and second limitations. 

With regards to the third limitation, the lack of adherence can hinder the effectiveness of the proposed exercise programme. One way to maintain adherence in the absence of supervision is for the individuals to receive automated reinforcement messages and motivational support in line with their motivational profile. Taking as a reference an existing questionnaire for the assessment of motivational traits, the Motivational Trait Questionnaire (MTQ), we designed an objective behavioural test in the form of a game, where the player is faced to specific situations in which the behavioural decision made is interpreted as evidence of certain motivational traits. In MOTIVA, we aim to evaluate the validity of the game as a psychometric instrument in the target population and expand the coverage of the users’ motivational traits.