Mixed Dining: Enhancing Social Interaction of Elderly Individuals Living Alone with Smart Dining Environment and Wearable MR

The aging population is an issue in many countries with a substantial proportion of the elderly living alone. Social isolation and loneliness represent significant challenges for the elderly, impacting their mental, emotional, and physical well-being. For this problem, we proposed Mixed Dining, an innovative system that integrated a smart dining environment with wearable MR (MR) devices to encourage social engagement and enhance the overall quality of life for the elderly. Mixed Dining combined ambient intelligence sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) devices to create a personalized and interactive dining environment. The wearable mixed reality (MR) device seamlessly was integrated into the smart dining environment, providing real-time holographic interactions with friends, family members, or even virtual companions during mealtime. The system was designed to detect the user's emotional state and adjust the experience accordingly, promoting a more engaging and emotionally supportive dining experience, enabling the elderly to engage in social interactions, access information, and receive assistance during meals through intuitive and user-friendly interaction. The Mixed Dining represented a promising solution for enhancing the social interaction of the elderly living alone.