Onscreen’s TV-based AI companion gives assist for elder caregivers

Onscreen has been offering caregivers and seniors with an AI-based companion known as Pleasure to assist relations handle older adults. Now it’s bringing its Pleasure AI companion app to Android tablets and iPads.

The corporate is aware of caregivers are outnumbered by those that want care on this nation. I felt the fact of that as I and a group of caregivers took care of my mom earlier than she died from dementia this yr. And so it gave me a bit hope to see Onscreen engaged on TV-based know-how for AI companions for older adults final yr. Now the corporate has a brand new solution to attain seniors.

Onscreen Pleasure is an AI companion that reduces social isolation, helps growing old in place, and enhances high quality of life for older of us. It launched the merchandise at CES 2025, the large tech commerce present in Las Vegas this week the place it will likely be evident that tech firms are focusing on seniors now.

After all, we will say that it’s at all times higher for the aged to have human assist for his or her caregiving. However the actuality is there simply aren’t sufficient caregivers. And there’s a loneliness epidemic that’s making the onset of dementia with the aged worse.

The brand new Onscreen Pleasure pill app, is designed to boost communication, companionship, and look after older adults. Unveiled at CES 2025, this new providing expands Onscreen’s mission to handle social isolation and make care extra accessible for seniors and their households. Onscreen AI-based care options will likely be on show at CES 2025 in AgeTech Atlanta sales space (Venetian Expo Stage 2 Halls A-D: Sales space 54600).

“Here at Onscreen, we are building the TV solution for older adults. Every day, 10,000 people become a senior in this country. There’s over 22 million folks over the age of 75, over 13 million folks over the age of 80, and they all struggle with technology to certain some point as they age,” CEO Costin Tuculescu stated in an interview with GamesBeat some weeks in the past. “It just gets harder and harder and harder.”

He added, “On the other side of that equation, you have a family members, who are usually their adult children, that just start to worry. They want to see their parents. They want to make sure the parents are thriving, that they’re doing well, but it’s hard trying to get 80-year-old mom or dad on a zoom call.”

To cope with that, Tuculescu stated, “We have created a product to make the tech extremely senior friendly. Bring family communication and keep everybody in the loop. Bring socialization to address problems like loneliness and isolation, and bring an AI companion into the home that lets us stay in touch with our older adults. And the AI companion, in essence, is always available to the senior and collects information about how the senior is doing things that they need. And then further, kind of connects the family with the senior to make sure everything they need is handled.”

Increasing Pleasure AI to tablets

Constructing on the success and learnings of its TV-based Second senior care platform, the Onscreen Pleasure app eliminates the requirement for a brand new {hardware} machine, and brings Onscreen’s most essential senior care options of the platform to Android tablets and iPads. It’s like Roku for seniors.

This new app permits households to arrange a senior care hub utilizing units they already personal, usually older technology units that gather mud as soon as the improve cycle comes round. By reducing the limitations to entry and leveraging present {hardware}, Onscreen Pleasure permits extra seniors and households to learn from Onscreen’s broader caregiving platform.

“Launching Onscreen Joy at CES 2025 is a significant step toward opening up the Onscreen ecosystem, and making the powerful capabilities of Onscreen available to more families that need them,” stated Tuculescu. “Our goal from day one has been to simplify technology so that seniors feel supported and engaged. By offering a tablet-based solution, we’re removing barriers and empowering families to use their existing devices to provide meaningful care.”

Key Options of Onscreen Pleasure

The app consists of a variety of capabilities designed to boost the lives of seniors and
their households:

• “Joy” the Private Companion: Affords partaking conversations, trivia, jokes, and inventive actions like portray, bringing leisure and stimulation to seniors.
• AI Wellness Test-Ins: Pleasure performs wellness check-ins within the type of pleasant reminders for important actions like taking treatment, consuming meals, ingesting water, and fascinating in bodily exercise.
• Automated Video Name Answering: Routinely connects seniors with trusted relations of their “Favorites” record, making communication seamless. Callers utilizing each iOS and Android units can simply join with their older family members, overcoming the restrictions of proprietary video calling programs tied to particular cellular working programs (ie FaceTime).
• Household Zoom Classes: Permits seniors to hitch household Zoom calls with out requiring any effort, making certain they keep related to bigger household gatherings.
• Easy Textual content, Picture and Video Messaging: Shows textual content messages, images, and movies in an easy-to-read format, making it easy for seniors to interact with shared content material.
• Dwell Interactive Occasions: Offers entry to dwell occasions and actions, enabling seniors to take part in partaking and interactive experiences from the consolation of their residence, with no technical help required.
• YouTube Content material Sharing: Performs movies shared by relations immediately on the pill, providing a customized leisure expertise.
• Picture Gallery & Slideshow: Organizes shared images right into a devoted gallery, creating a visible archive of cherished reminiscences. Optionally, when the pill is idle, images of family members will likely be rotating via, successfully offering a handy image body.

Updates to the Onscreen household app

Along with launching the Onscreen Pleasure senior care pill app, the corporate has rebranded its present app for relations and caregivers as Onscreen Household. This app continues to offer an intuitive approach for households to remain related with their older family members via options like video calls, picture sharing, and real-time updates.

Onscreen Household works seamlessly with Onscreen Pleasure, making a complete resolution that meets the wants of each seniors and their assist networks. Moreover, Onscreen gives an internet software for customers that want to arrange Routines on a bigger display screen, and provides household caregivers the power to traits and outcomes ensuing from Pleasure’s check-ins with the senior.

The loneliness epidemic

Whether or not via pleasant dialog, psychological stimulation with trivia video games and mind teasers, or artistic classes like producing a portray, Pleasure affords day by day interactions that scale back loneliness and foster emotional well-being. By partaking older adults in significant and enjoyable actions, Pleasure helps maintain their minds energetic and spirits lifted, all from the consolation of their TV — a well-known machine for seniors.

Rolled out this fall, Onscreen present caregivers and senior care professionals with insights into the day by day lives of their family members or sufferers via an accessible TV-based format. Because the growing old inhabitants grows, Pleasure’s enhanced options promote well-being, assist actions of day by day dwelling, allow well being monitoring, and improve cognitive and emotional engagement, providing a clearer image of well being and security whereas lowering emotions of isolation.

“Loneliness and isolation is a massive problem. It affects about 40% of seniors,” Tuculescu stated. “Loneliness and isolation give you a 50% increased risk of dementia, 30% increased risk of stroke, 35% increased risk of heart disease.”

Onscreen’s personal research present 88% of caregivers reported diminished loneliness amongst their family members; 76% noticed a major improve in happiness; and 86% famous enhancements in total well-being.

These findings spotlight the profound distinction that accessible know-how could make within the lives of seniors, notably these dealing with cognitive challenges.

With common check-ins and conversations, Pleasure helps seniors age in place for an extended time by offering useful reminders, companionship, and psychological stimulation, all whereas reporting insightful particulars about their day by day exercise, in addition to their bodily and psychological well being, to family members and caregivers, stated Costin Tuculescu, CEO of Onscreen, in an interview with VentureBeat.

Tuculescu has a private stake on this, as can we all, as he was impressed to start out the enterprise after caring for his mom.

Tuculescu noticed how a lot platforms like Zoom helped within the pandemic, however he additionally noticed the challenges that the older inhabitants had, even with one thing so simple as video communication.

“My parents are in their mid 70s. I connected with my other cofounder for Onscreen, who was Jerry Norton. He previously had a company that was acquired by GoTo Meeting. So we really have this whole conferencing and communication background and he went through the entire journey with his parents aging, having a really hard time staying connected with them, eventually passing away in a senior living facility, seeing the loneliness, seeing how disconnected they become,” Tuculescu stated. “So he’s very passionate about this. I got parents in my mid 70s, and I see how their cognitive aspects are changing, and I know that we’re going to need better tools to support the general population.”

Onscreen can carry out a common wellness test, giving a complete evaluation of the senior’s well being, emotional state, and dwelling circumstances to make sure well-being and luxury. Pleasure can even do a meal and hydration test, confirming whether or not meals have been eaten and if the person has been ingesting sufficient water.

Pleasure additionally encourages bodily exercise, selling mobility and total bodily well-being. And it performs a sleep high quality, monitoring sleep and relaxation patterns. And Pleasure affords light reminders to keep up private hygiene and guarantee a secure, safe dwelling atmosphere.

A gaming factor

There’s additionally a gaming a part of this. Pleasure affords reminiscence lane and mind teasers. These are partaking classes for reminiscing or psychological stimulation, selling optimistic feelings and cognitive sharpness.

And it has day by day jokes and trivia video games. These are enjoyable, interactive moments that carry spirits and entertain elders. The sufferers can even paint. Pleasure can immediate the person to generate a novel portray, fostering creativity and engagement.

Caregivers and relations can see the work their family members create within the Onscreen cellular app, save them, and even share them with household and associates.

These new capabilities complement Pleasure’s preliminary set of check-in routines which have already began to roll out earlier this yr:

Pleasure can even do an informal check-in targeted on offering pleasant dialog and firm, purely for social connection. And it may well do a medicine test, the place Pleasure reminds customers to take prescribed treatment, asking about uncomfortable side effects or challenges and making certain they keep on schedule.

Lastly, Pleasure can carry out a ache and happiness test. It could possibly test on each bodily ache and emotional happiness, asking customers to charge their well-being to supply personalised empathy and care.

Availability and pricing

Onscreen Pleasure is on the market now on the App Retailer and Google Play Retailer. Households can begin with a 30-day free trial, permitting them to discover the app’s options and advantages. After the trial, the service is on the market for a subscription price of $9.99 per thirty days, providing an reasonably priced solution to improve connection, companionship and look after senior family members.

A trusted senior care know-how companion

Onscreen has established itself as a trusted title in senior care know-how by creating options that deal with the distinctive challenges confronted by older adults and their households. The
firm’s flagship product, Second, a TV-based senior care machine, together with the
companion Onscreen Household app for caregivers, leverages the familiarity and luxury of
the TV to offer AI-powered companionship, reminders, seamless video calling with cherished
ones, dwell Zoom lessons, and even the power to offer TV tech assist from wherever.

Acknowledged for its progressive strategy, Onscreen has earned accolades such because the CES 2024 CES AARP AgeTech After Darkish Pitch Competitors win and choice into the AARP AgeTech Collaborative Accelerator. These achievements spotlight Onscreen’s ongoing dedication to addressing the challenges of the rising growing old inhabitants and enhancing high quality of life for seniors.

Past senior care, Onscreen’s know-how has additionally demonstrated its potential to serve numerous markets. As one in all 4 finalist firms chosen for the CTA Basis’s Digital Well being Innovation Problem, Onscreen is adapting its AI-driven options to enhance accessibility and wellness for working-age adults with mental and developmental disabilities. This recognition underscores the pliability and scalability of Onscreen’s platform to handle a wide range of distinctive wants throughout totally different demographics.

Secure and reliable AI fashions

Tuculescu stated he understands that belief is without doubt one of the most, if not THE most, essential problem for its clients and companions. That’s why Pleasure’s AI operates on extremely safe and vetted fashions, making certain security at each step.

Pleasure filters out dangerous content material and makes use of methods like Reinforcement Studying with Human Suggestions (RLHF) to make sure responses are correct, dependable, and aligned with trusted insurance policies.

Powered by OpenAI’s newest fashions, Pleasure leverages cutting-edge strategies to stop safety vulnerabilities, making it secure for residence and senior care environments.

A imaginative and prescient for the way forward for AI in senior care

These improvements are just the start of utilizing AI for senior care, Tuculescu stated.

The corporate is working to allow Pleasure to offer 24/7 companionship and assist for elders each at residence and in senior dwelling communities.

With the silver tsunami approaching, these options are extra essential than ever, Tuculescu stated.

Along with emotional assist, Pleasure’s check-ins present sensible help to assist older adults keep wholesome routines. From reminding them to take drugs and keep hydrated to checking in on sleep high quality, security, and hygiene, Pleasure ensures that older adults are receiving light reminders to remain properly whereas selling independence. With Pleasure, older adults can take pleasure in companionship and care in a seamless, unobtrusive approach, enhancing their day-to-day high quality of life.

How Pleasure advantages household caregivers

Household caregivers can keep extra related and engaged with their family members’ well-being via the up to date Onscreen cellular apps. These apps now function a Companion Tab, which permits caregivers to view Pleasure’s interactions with their family members at a look.

With only one faucet, they’ll see the outcomes of day by day well being check-ins, treatment reminders, and hydration prompts, making certain their family members are sustaining wholesome routines. The app additionally captures moments of creativity and pleasure, corresponding to work generated throughout interactive classes, which caregivers can save and share with relations, making a extra related and engaged caregiving expertise.

This quick access to essential data gives caregivers with the peace of thoughts that they’ll monitor their cherished one’s emotional, bodily, and social well-being anytime, irrespective of the place they’re. Whether or not it’s maintaining observe of meal instances, train reminders, or just understanding their family members are engaged in significant actions, Onscreen’s cellular app empowers caregivers to remain concerned within the day by day lives of their relations conveniently and compassionately.

How Pleasure can profit enterprises

For Enterprise clients—together with senior dwelling communities, residence care businesses, and healthcare suppliers—Onscreen’s Enterprise Supervisor dashboard affords superior performance for managing numerous units and customers.

The dashboard gives detailed insights into well being check-ins, wellness metrics, and different information gathered via Pleasure’s AI interactions, enabling care organizations to ship personalised and environment friendly care at scale. With instruments to watch a number of customers and units, the Enterprise Supervisor dashboard is a robust resolution for organizations trying to improve care supply and enhance outcomes for seniors of their care.

Onscreen additionally affords Onscreen Dwell, which helps older adults take part in dwell on-line lessons and occasions from the consolation of their TV. This progressive resolution is made potential via new partnerships with The Loop Village and Uncover Dwell, bringing a various vary of interactive actions on to the dwelling rooms of older adults.

With Onscreen Dwell, it’s potential to entry dwell and interactive lessons and content material immediately from the TV. Onscreen’s built-in digital camera and microphone now makes it seamless to completely take part in these dwell actions for seniors, permitting a totally partaking and interactive expertise for older adults which will historically wrestle to get know-how working.

The Onscreen Dwell providing is an add-on to a person’s present Onscreen subscription. Prospects can select to subscribe to both supplier – The Loop Village or Uncover Dwell, for a flat month-to-month price of $50.

Onscreen has participated within the AgeTech Collaborative accelerator program, an eight-week program designed to raise promising early-stage AgeTech startups. Onscreen additionally has an software programming interface (API) and an enterprise-grade machine administration portal.

The API provides Onscreen companions the power to seamlessly combine their companies with Onscreen’s progressive TV-based video calling platform.