Incidental Interaction: Technology to Support Elder Strength Training through Everyday Movements

TL;DR

This paper introduces Incidental Interaction, a novel approach that transforms everyday movements into strength training exercises for older adults, using embedded sensors and feedback to promote healthy aging.

Contribution

It presents a new method for integrating strength training into daily routines through instrumented objects and real-time feedback, reducing the need for dedicated exercise routines.

Findings

Two pilot studies with elders showed increased engagement in strength activities.

Participants improved movement quality and perceived benefits.

The system provided effective real-time feedback and motivation.

Abstract

Strength training is a key determinant of healthy aging, yet adherence to formal exercise programs among older adults remains low. While many technologies aim to encourage physical activity in older adults, they typically rely on dedicated devices, wearables, or explicit exercise tasks. They therefore do not embed task practice into daily life. Our new approach, termed Incidental Interaction, instead transforms everyday actions into opportunities for deliberate strength building. It thereby operationalizes everyday movements such as sitting, standing, or lifting objects as strength exercises, encouraging participants to repeat them to build functional capacity. This repetition is encapsulated in the phrase "do it twice", and is combined with movement quality metrics to provide feedback and support progression, without requiring users to adopt new routines or equipment. We illustrate the concept by designing and implementing an ecosystem of instrumented everyday objects and pressure-sensitive mats embedded into ordinary furniture, providing real-time feedback, progress tracking, and motivational cues. To evaluate technical efficacy, we report on two structured pilot deployments with elders (2 week and 4 week studies, n=7).