MomBoard: E-ink display for a parent with amnesia

I love these kinds of projects. Congratulations to the OP.

Unrelated, but does anyone know a good TV remote for elders? I'd like something like a Stream Deck with big buttons for things like :

* Turn it on/off

* Switch to TV channel 315

* Switch to TV channel 517

* Play Planet Earth on Netflix

* Play Young Sheldon on Netflix

My grandparents are 92 and 97 and even big remotes aren't cutting it. Not only that, but I'd like for them to be able to use ondemand video platforms, not only random TV channels.

To control the TV itself, it seems a RPi or ESP32 with an IR led is enough, but to put something to play on Netflix is surprisingly difficult. I'm able to control a Fire Stick using remote adb commands, but not sure how reliable it is. I'd love to find something like this off the shelf.

Technology is great, but it's not made for elders. It frustrates them (and me), and they end up feeling stupid, which angers me.

I am sure someone else must have done this, but I couldn't find it anywhere.

I would like to second this. I tried a number of options with my grandpa and they always failed for one reason or another.

If anyone has a solution in this space, I would be very interested.

Is their problem the size (big buttons) or the UI complexity the buttons control (trying to navigate on Netflix is a PITA compared to hitting a preset channel button)?

On the former I had luck with one of those jumbo remotes that just has a few buttons (channel up/down, volume up/down, power, mute) and separately programming the TV to only have the channels they cared about in the list. When it came to smart apps it just became impossible to try to fix via the remote as the remote wasn't really the problem.

It's the UI, especially for Netflix or other streaming apps. I want something that is totally foolproof. Just click and it starts.

Avoid toggling buttons. Have a separate button for on, and a second button for off. Idempotent all the way.

I remember my great aunt repeatedly mashing the on/off button insisting that the TV was not working, when it never had a chance to bring up the picture.

There are some cheap android phones which come with an IR sensor. But the app for such functionality needs to be custom made.

This matches my experience. Sadly the way tech has evolved has made a lot of entertainment totally unaccessible for a lot folks. It needn't be that way. Seniors would be happy to just have a button thst played a netflix title randomly, but somehow that is unattainable.

a person with dementia absolutely will not be able to keep a phone charged

It’s a shame the UX around voice navigation is often so poor.

My mum just recently switched TV provider and while the new box has quite capable voice search (including both regular TV channels and integrated streaming services), it always takes her about 3 attempts to get it.

The “correct” way is to just press the button and say what you want without waiting. But she needs some sort of visual indication that it’s listening to know she’s “doing it right”, which takes just long enough to appear on screen that it’s either stopped listening and started trying to process background noise, or she presses the button again thinking she didn’t get it.