Buddy4All – A mixed reality-based solution for enabling intergenerational interaction

Abstract

With increasing age of society, the number of seniors living alone is steadily rising. This often leads to a feeling of loneliness or a decline in mental health and physical fitness. Seniors often feel overwhelmed by today's technology and speed of life and do not feel needed anymore partly due to lack of contact to the younger generation. On the other side, young adults – especially from lower social class – often lack positive role models and have problems establishing trustful relationships with adults. Buddy4All addresses these challenges by connecting the younger and older generation via an innovative technology-driven buddy platform. The solution combines classical smartphone-based interactions via the Buddy4All social app and Mixed Reality (MR) experiences via the novel and lightweight Nreal MR glasses. The social app provides multimodal cross-generational communication, experience exchange, and support content. The mixed reality solution connects the younger and older generation via fun cross-generational activities such as location-based games and cognitive exercises. These activities keep both generations mentally stimulated and physically active. The Buddy4All solution fosters the wellbeing and active lifestyle of both generations as well as the cross-generational interaction between these generations and thus, the understanding for each other.

Keywords: Mixed Reality, Cross-generational interaction, Location-based games, Cogni-tive trainings, Social Inclusion

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1004036