Activ84Health
With the Memoride platform, developed by Activ84Health, patients revitalized can re-explore the world through cycling with Google Street View. Activ84Health is a Belgian start-up, established in 2015, that develops technology to keep persons with a restriction physically and cognitively active in a fun, motivating and safe environment. Activ84Health’s first technology is the Memoride platform.
User Experience
Challenge
The concept behind Activ84Health’s Memoride was developed by Jan Smolders, director of Nursing Home Witte Meren, who noticed that while exercising in their weekly physiotherapy sessions, nursing home inhabitants were simply looking at a wall while riding a stationary bike for 15-20 minutes. As this has no value in respect of “user experience” and does not stimulate users to increase their level of physical activity, Jan designed the concept for what would eventually become Memoride. A virtual environment where users would be able to explore the world outside of the nursing home, in search of memories of the past, stories to be told, and experiences to be relived.
Combine physical activity with a valuable user experience
Solution
The Memoride technology is a cloud-based software platform that allows users with a physical, logistic or cognitive restriction to combine physical activity with a valuable user experience, maximizing the functional capacities they have without being stigmatizing towards the restrictions they might suffer. As Activ84Health uses Google Street View images, they create a unique and personalised user experience by offering access to streets and locations, with high emotional value for the users.
As they typically spend most of their lives within the four walls of a nursing home, hospital or rehabilitation centre, being able to virtually go outside again and relive past experiences or explore new environments provides a unique experience. Apart from the joy of being able to autonomously define how to exercise, where to go, and how to get there, Activ84Health also noticed that taking users back to the places of their past spontaneously provoked storytelling and reminiscence. This way, Memoride also has an effect on the cognitive activity of users. And even more, some of our clients have regular sessions in which 20-30 persons gather and go on a virtual city trip together. As such, they create a social experience by sharing memories and stories.