A service that helps terminally ill, old/frail, and immobilized people leave the confinement of their room and take hikes in nature.
Terminally old/ill immobilized people have very limited options on how to spend their days. They have no jobs, meetings, chores, no studying, and often no visitors. They do however have a lot of time. Depending on their illness a large chunk of it could even be spent in pain.
Everyone loves walks in nature. Especially people who can't take them anymore. This service makes it possible for them again.
Let's consider the problems that prevent terminally ill/old immobilized people from going out of the confinement of their care rooms:
Their relatives are busy with their own lives. They don't visit as often as they could.
People might feel that the person is too fragile to be taken out.
If they are terminally old, their friends are likely too fragile to be able to take them out and provide the necessary care.
The person might be too proud to be a burden on others, so they could decline such offers.
People might not want to take the responsibility to care for such a person outside of their care facility. There is a high chance that such a person might need emergency care which they can't provide.
Such a person likely doesn't have the funds to hire people to take them out.
Present and future solutions
A service that takes people out
A publicly funded service that helps people enjoy their final days in nature. They operate a fleet of robotic platforms (described below).
They help put people on the robotic platforms and follow at a distance if the person wants privacy. They have to follow so that they can provide assistance if necessary. They monitor the person's vital signs remotely.
The person can choose whether they want to go "alone" or be accompanied by the excursion provider. Somebody is nearby in any case.
Semi-autonomous robotic platforms
Battery powered, wheelchair-sized devices that are packed with all the equipment such a person might need in the field. For example:
Monitor that tracks vital signs and contacts emergency services with GPS location if necessary
oxygen
defibrilator
a medicine drawer that serves the medicine(s) at a scheduled time
heating system for cold months (down filled heated blanket)
what else?
The chair is designed to look like a normal mobility scooter for elderly. All the life support equipment is not immediately obvious. The chair can climb stairs and go offroad anywhere that's wide enough. It packs enough battery power for half a day excursion. The seat can recline into an almost horizontal position if the person needs to get more comfortable.
The chair is equipped with a system that automatically prevents it from bumping into people/objects or drive off a cliff.
Fully autonomous robotic platforms
Think tesla autopilot and tesla bot software. This is a future version, when technology has advanced sufficiently. The chair picks the person up at the hospital room or care facility and returns them when they want or by a specific deadline (8 hours?).
The chair is voice operated (Alexa style). A person tells it where they want to go. It then arranges transportation (uber, taxi), and takes the person to the meeting area, The taxi takes them to where the person wants to go. The chair offers intersting trail suggestions within the area of interest, based on what other people liked.
The chair does all the driving. The person can adjust the "hike" speed.
Darko Savic Feb 26, 2022
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