Fall Prediction and Prevention Systems: Recent Trends, Challenges, and Future Research Directions.

Fall prediction is a multifaceted problem that involves complex interactions between physiological, behavioral, and environmental factors. Existing fall detection and prediction systems mainly focus on physiological factors such as gait, vision, and cognition, and do not address the multifactorial nature of falls. In addition, these systems lack efficient user interfaces and feedback for preventing future falls. Recent advances in internet of things (IoT) and mobile technologies offer ample opportunities for integrating contextual information about patient behavior and environment along with physiological health data for predicting falls. This article reviews the state-of-the-art in fall detection and prediction systems. It also describes the challenges, limitations, and future directions in the design and implementation of effective fall prediction and prevention systems

Fall prevention intervention technologies: A conceptual framework and survey of the state of the art

In recent years, an ever increasing range of technology-based applications have been developed with the goal of assisting in the delivery of more effective and efficient fall prevention interventions. Whilst there have been a number of studies that have surveyed technologies for a particular sub-domain of fall prevention, there is no existing research which surveys the full spectrum of falls prevention interventions and characterises the range of technologies that have augmented this landscape. This study presents a conceptual framework and survey of the state of the art of technology-based fall prevention systems which is derived from a systematic template analysis of studies presented in contemporary research literature. The framework proposes four broad categories of fall prevention intervention system: Pre-fall prevention; Post-fall prevention; Fall injury prevention; Cross-fall prevention. Other categories include, Application type, Technology deployment platform, Information sources, Deployment environment, User interface type, and Collaborative function. After presenting the conceptual framework, a detailed survey of the state of the art is presented as a function of the proposed framework. A number of research challenges emerge as a result of surveying the research literature, which include a need for: new systems that focus on overcoming extrinsic falls risk factors; systems that support the environmental risk assessment process; systems that enable patients and practitioners to develop more collaborative relationships and engage in shared decision making during falls risk assessment and prevention activities. In response to these challenges, recommendations and future research directions are proposed to overcome each respective challenge.The Royal Society, grant Ref: RG13082

Daily Stress Recognition from Mobile Phone Data, Weather Conditions and Individual Traits

Research has proven that stress reduces quality of life and causes many diseases. For this reason, several researchers devised stress detection systems based on physiological parameters. However, these systems require that obtrusive sensors are continuously carried by the user. In our paper, we propose an alternative approach providing evidence that daily stress can be reliably recognized based on behavioral metrics, derived from the user's mobile phone activity and from additional indicators, such as the weather conditions (data pertaining to transitory properties of the environment) and the personality traits (data concerning permanent dispositions of individuals). Our multifactorial statistical model, which is person-independent, obtains the accuracy score of 72.28% for a 2-class daily stress recognition problem. The model is efficient to implement for most of multimedia applications due to highly reduced low-dimensional feature space (32d). Moreover, we identify and discuss the indicators which have strong predictive power.Comment: ACM Multimedia 2014, November 3-7, 2014, Orlando, Florida, US

Future bathroom: A study of user-centred design principles affecting usability, safety and satisfaction in bathrooms for people living with disabilities

Research and development work relating to assistive technology 2010-11 (Department of Health) Presented to Parliament pursuant to Section 22 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 197

Experiences of in-home evaluation of independent living technologies for older adults

Evaluating home-based independent living technologies for older adults is essential. Whilst older adults are a diverse group with a range of computing experiences, it is likely that many of this user group may have little experience with technology and may be challenged with age-related impairments that can further impact upon their interaction with technology. However, the evaluation life cycle of independent living technologies does not only involve usability testing of such technologies in the home. It must also consider the evaluation of the older adult’s living space to ensure technologies can be easily integrated into their homes and daily routines. Assessing the impact of these technologies on older adults is equally critical as they can only be successful if older adults are willing to accept and adopt them. In this paper we present three case studies that illustrate the evaluation life cycle of independent living technologies within TRIL, which include ethnographic assessment of participant attitudes and expectations, evaluation of the living space prior to the deployment of any technology, to the final evaluation of usability and participant perspectives

장애인 사용자들을 대상으로 한 음성 사용자 인터페이스의 사용자 경험에 대한 사용자 중심 연구: 지능형 개인 비서를 중심으로

학위논문 (박사) -- 서울대학교 대학원 : 인문대학 협동과정 인지과학전공, 2021. 2. 윤명환.In recent years, research on Voice User Interfaces (VUIs) has been actively conducted. The VUI has many advantages which can be very useful for the general public as well as for elderly people and people with disabilities. The VUI is considered very suitable for individuals with disabilities to promote universal access to information, decreasing the gap between users with non-disabilities and users with disabilities. In this respect, many researchers have been trying to apply the VUI to various areas for people with disabilities to increase their independence and quality of life. However, previous studies related to VUIs for people with disabilities usually focused on developments and evaluations of new systems, and empirical studies are limited. There have been a few studies related to User Experience (UX) of VUIs for people with disabilities. This situation is not different with studies related to Intelligent Personal Assistants (IPAs) which one of the most wildly being used VUIs nowadays. Although IPAs have potential to be practically used for users with disabilities because they can perform various tasks than simple VUIs, research related to UX of IPAs for them has been paid little attention to, only focusing on a young adult and middle-aged group among people with non-disabilities as end-users. Many previous studies referred to that IPAs would be helpful to people with disabilities. However, only a few studies related to IPAs have been conducted from the angle of users with disabilities, especially in terms of UX. It is known for that investigating usability and UX for users with disabilities is more difficult and delicate than that of users with non-disabilities. It can be said that research on UX of IPAs for users with disabilities should be conducted more closely to understand their interactions with IPAs. The purpose of the research in this dissertation is to investigate UX of VUIs for users with disabilities, focusing on IPAs. The research in this dissertation consists of three independent main studies. Study 1 investigates UX of commercially available VUIs for users with disabilities, by examining acceptance, focusing on the differences between users with different types of disabilities and identifying the reasons why they use or not use VUIs. A questionnaire survey was conducted for users with disabilities having used one or more VUIs. The collected data were analyzed statistically and qualitatively. The results of this study show acceptance of VUIs and the relationships between the acceptance factors for users with disabilities, with some differences between users with different types of disabilities. The results of this study also provide some insights related to UX of VUIs for users with disabilities from their perspective, showing that the acceptance factors can be used as criteria in comprehending the issues. Study 2 investigates UX of IPAs based on online reviews written by users through semantic network analysis. Before investigating UX of IPAs for users with disabilities, important factors for UX of IPAs were proposed by investigating UX of IPAs for users with non-disabilities in this study. As a case study, online reviews on smart speakers from the internet were collected. Then, the collected text data were preprocessed and structured in which words having similar meaning were clustered into one representative keyword. After this, the frequency of the keywords was calculated, and keywords in top 50 frequency were used for the analysis, because they were considered core keywords. Based on the keywords, a network was visualized, and centrality was measured. The results of this study show that most of the users were satisfied with the use of IPAs, although they felt that the performance of them was not completely reliable. In addition, the results of this study show aesthetic aspects of IPAs are also important for users’ enjoyment, especially for the satisfaction of users. This study proposes eleven important factors to be considered for UX of IPAs and among them, suggests ten factors to be considered in the design of IPAs to improve UX of IPAs and to satisfy users. Study 3 investigates UX of IPAs for users with disabilities and identifies how the use of IPAs affects quality of life of them, based on Study 1 and Study 2. In this study, comparisons with users with non-disabilities are also conducted. A questionnaire survey and a written interview were conducted for users with disabilities and users with non-disabilities having used one or more smart speakers. The collected data were analyzed statistically and qualitatively. The results of this study show that, regardless of disability, most users are sharing the main UX of IPAs and can benefit the use of IPA. The results of this study also show that the investigation on qualitative data is essential to the study for users with disabilities, offering various insights related to UX of IPAs from the angle of them and clear differences in UX of IPAs between users with disabilities and users with non-disabilities. This study proposes important factors for UX of IPAs for users with disabilities and users with non-disabilities based on the discussed factors for UX of IPAs in Study 2. This study also discusses various design implications for UX of IPAs and provides three important design implications which should be considered to improve UX, focusing on the interaction design of IPAs for not only users with disabilities but also all potential users. Each study provides design implications. Study 1 discusses design implications for UX of VUIs for users with disabilities. Study 2 suggests design implications for UX of IPAs, focusing on users with non-disabilities. Study 3 discusses various design implications for UX of IPAs and proposes three specific implications focusing on the interaction design of IPAs for all potential users. It is possible to expect that reflecting the implications in the interaction design of IPA will be helpful to all potential users, not just users with disabilities.최근에 들어와 음성 사용자 인터페이스들(Voice User Interfaces, VUIs)에 대한 연구가 활발히 진행되고 있다. VUI는 일반적인 사람들은 물론, 고령자 및 장애인들에게도 매우 유용한 많은 장점들을 가지고 있다. VUI는 장애인들에게 보편적 정보 접근을 용이하게 한다는 점에서 장애인과 비장애인 간 존재할 수 있는 정보 격차를 줄이는 매우 유용한 역할을 할 수 있다. 이러한 관점에서, 많은 연구자들은 장애인들의 독립성과 삶의 질을 높이기 위해 VUI를 다양한 영역에 적용하려고 하고 있다. 하지만, 장애인들을 위한 VUIs와 관련된 선행연구들은 대부분 새로운 시스템의 개발 및 평가에 중점을 두고 있으며 경험적 연구는 제한적이다. 특히, 장애인을 위한 VUIs와 관련된 연구들 중 사용자경험(User Experience, UX)에 대한 연구는 상당히 드물다. 이러한 상황은 오늘날 가장 많이 사용되는 VUIs 중 하나인 지능형 개인 비서들(Intelligent Personal Assistants, IPAs)에 대한 연구에서도 마찬가지이다. IPAs는 단순한 VUIs보다 다양한 작업을 수행할 수 있기 때문에 장애가 있는 사용자들에게 매우 실용적으로 사용될 수 있다. 하지만, IPAs의 UX 관련된 연구는 거의 주목받지 못 하고 있으며, 비장애인 중 청년 및 중년층만이 최종 사용자들로 고려되고 있다. 이전의 많은 선행연구들은 IPAs가 장애가 있는 사람들에게 큰 도움이 될 수 있다고 입을 모아 말한다. 그러나 실재로 장애인 사용자들의 입장에서 진행된 IPAs와 관련된 연구는 별로 없으며 IPAs의 UX 관련된 연구는 더욱 부족한 상황이다. 비장애인 사용자들과 비교했을 때 장애인 사용자들의 입장에서 사용성(usability) 및 UX를 조사하는 것은 복잡하고 어려운 일이다. 그렇기에 장애가 있는 사용자를 위한 IPAs의 UX에 대한 연구가 보다 철저히 이루어져야 한다고 볼 수 있다. 이러한 배경을 두고, 본 학위논문의 연구 목적은 장애인 사용자들을 대상으로 IPAs에 중점을 두고 VUIs의 UX를 조사하는 것이다. 본 학위논문은 크게 세 개의 독립적인 연구로 이루어져 있다. 연구 1에서는 다른 장애를 가지고 있는 장애인 사용자들의 차이들과 그들이 VUIs을 사용하거나 사용하지 않는 이유를 파악하는데 중점을 두고, 상용화된 VUIs의 UX를 조사한다. 하나이상의 VUIs를 사용한 경험이 있는 장애인 사용자들을 대상으로 설문조사를 하였다. 수집된 데이터는 통계적으로 그리고 정성적으로 분석하였다. 이 연구의 결과들은 장애인 사용자들의 장애유형에 따라 VUIs의 수용도(acceptance)와 수용도 요인들 간 관계에 차이가 있다는 것을 보여준다. 또한, 이 연구의 결과들은 수용도 요인들이 VUIs의 UX 이슈들을 이해하는데 사용될 수 있다는 것을 보여줌과 함께 장애인 사용자들을 위한 VUIs의 UX와 관련된 다양한 인사이트들(insights)을 제공해준다. 연구 2에서는 의미 신경망(semantic network) 분석을 통해 사용자가 작성한 온라인 리뷰를 기반으로 IPAs의 UX를 조사한다. 해당 연구는 장애인 사용자들에 대한 IPAs의 UX를 조사하기 전에 비장애인 사용자들에 대한 IPAs의 UX를 조사하여 IPAs의 UX와 관련하여 중요하게 고려해야 할 요인들을 제안하였다. 이를 위해 사례 연구로, 인터넷에서 스마트 스피커에 대한 온라인 리뷰들을 수집하였다. 그 후, 텍스트 데이터를 전처리 및 구조화였고, 이 과정에서 유사한 의미를 갖는 단어들이 있을 경우 하나의 대표 키워드로 변환하였다. 이 과정을 거친 후, 키워드들에 대한 빈도수를 계산하여, 빈도수 상위 50개의 키워드들이 핵심 키워드들로 보였기에, 빈도수 상위 50개의 키워드들을 분석에 사용했다. 이 키워드들을 바탕으로 네트워크를 시각화 하였고 중심성(centrality)을 계산했다. 이 연구의 결과들은 비록 IPAs의 성능에 대해서 완전히 신뢰하지는 못 하고 있더라도 대부분의 사용자들이 IPAs 사용에 만족하고 있었다는 것을 보여준다. 또한 이 연구의 결과들은 IPAs의 심미적 측면들이 사용자들의 즐거움과 만족에 중요하다는 것을 보여준다. 이 연구는 IPAs의 UX를 위해 고려해야 할 열 한 개의 중요 요인들을 제안하고, 그 중에서 사용자들을 만족시키고 IPAs의 디자인 시 고려해야 할 필요가 있는 열 개의 요인들을 시사해준다. 연구 3에서는, 연구 1과 연구 2를 바탕으로, 장애인 사용자들을 대상으로 IPAs의 UX에 대해 조사하고 IPAs의 사용이 그들의 삶의 질(quality of life)에 어떠한 영향을 주는지에 대해서 알아보고자 한다. 이 과정에서 비장애인 사용자들과 비교 또한 이루어졌다. 하나이상의 IPAs를 사용하고 있는 장애인 사용자들과 비장애인 사용자들을 대상으로 설문조사와 서면 인터뷰를 진행하였다. 수집된 데이터는 통계적으로 그리고 정성적으로 분석하였다. 이 연구의 결과들은, 장애 유무와 상관없이, 대부분의 사용자들이 주요 IPAs의 UX를 공유하고 있으며 IPAs 사용에 혜택을 누리고 있다는 것을 보여준다. 또한, 이 연구의 결과들은 장애인 사용자들의 입장에서 IPAs의 UX와 관련된 다양한 인사이트들과 함께 두 사용자 그룹 간 명확한 차이가 있다는 것을 보여줌으로써 이들을 대상으로 한 연구에서 정성적 데이터에 대한 분석이 필수적이라는 사실을 보여준다. 이 연구는, 연구 2에서 논의된 요인들을 바탕으로, 장애인 사용자들과 비장애인 사용자들을 위한 IPAs의 UX에 있어 중요 요인들을 제안한다. 또한 이 연구는 IPA의 UX에 대한 다양한 디자인 함의들(implications)을 논의하고, 장애가 있는 사용자들뿐만 아니라 모든 잠재적 사용자들을 고려한 IPA의 상호 작용 설계에 중점을 둔 구체적인 세 개의 디자인 함의들을 제공한다. 각 연구는 디자인 함의들을 제공한다. 연구 1에서는 장애인 사용자들을 대상으로 VUIs의 UX를 위한 디자인 함의들을 논의한다. 연구 2에서는 비장애인 사용자들에게 초점을 두고 IPAs의 UX를 위한 디자인 함의들을 제시한다. 연구 3에서는 장애인 사용들만이 아닌 모든 잠재적 사용자들에게 도움이 될 수 있는 다양한 디자인 함의들을 논의하고 IPA의 상호 작용 설계에 중점을 둔 구체적인 세 개의 디자인 함의들을 제안한다. 이러한 함의들을 IPAs의 디자인에 반영하는 것은 장애인 사용자들뿐만 아니라 잠재적인 모든 사용자들에게 도움이 될 것이다.ABSTRACT I CONTENTS V LIST OF TABLES VIII LIST OF FIGURES X CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1. Research Background 1 1.2. Research Objective 4 1.3. Outline of this Dissertation 7 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 10 2.1. People with Disabilities and Research Methods for Them 10 2.1.1. People with Disabilities 10 2.1.2. Research Methods for People with Disabilities 11 2.2. Conceptual Frameworks 13 2.2.1. User Experience of Voice User Interfaces 13 2.2.2. Design Approaches for Accessibility 18 2.3. Related Work 22 2.3.1. Previous Studies Related to Voice User Interfaces 22 2.3.2. Previous Studies Related to Intelligent Personal Assistants 25 CHAPTER 3 INVESTIGATION ON USER EXPERIENCE OF VOICE USER INTERFACES FOR USERS WITH DISABILITIES BY EXAMINING ACCEPTANCE 31 3.1. Introduction 31 3.2. Method 35 3.2.1. Participants 35 3.2.2. Procedure 35 3.2.3. Questionnaire 36 3.2.4. Analysis 38 3.2.4.1. Statistical Analysis 38 3.2.4.1. Qualitative Analysis 38 3.3. Results 38 3.3.1. Reliability Analysis and Validity Analysis 38 3.3.2. Descriptive Analysis and Independent Two-Sample T-Test 39 3.3.3. Multiple Regression Analysis 39 3.3.4. Analysis on Comments of the Participants 44 3.4. Discussion 45 3.4.1. User Experience of Voice User Interfaces for Users with Disabilities 45 3.4.2. Reasons of Users with Disabilities for Using Voice User Interfaces or not 48 3.4.3. Design Implications on Voice User Interfaces for Users with Disabilities 50 3.5. Conclusion 51 CHAPTER 4 INVESTIGATION ON USER EXPERIENCE OF INTELLIGENT PERSONAL ASSISTANTS FROM ONLINE REVIEWS BY IDENTIFYING IMPORTANT FACTORS 54 4.1. Introduction 54 4.2. Method 56 4.2.1. Data Collection 56 4.2.2. Preprocessing and Structuring Data 57 4.2.3. Analysis 57 4.3. Results 60 4.3.1. Analysis on Frequency of the Keywords and Categorizing the Keywords 61 4.3.2. Visualization of the Network 61 4.3.3. Analysis on Centrality of the Keywords 65 4.4. Discussion 65 4.4.1. User Experience of Intelligent Personal Assistants through Semantic Network Analysis from Online Reviews 65 4.4.2. Important Factors for User Experience of Intelligent Personal Assistants and Design Implications 70 4.5. Conclusion 74 CHAPTER 5 INVESTIGATION ON USER EXPERIENCE OF INTELLIGENT PERSONAL ASSISTANTS AND EFFECTS ON QUALITY OF LIFE FOR USERS WITH DISABILITIES BY COMPARING WITH USERS WITH NON-DISABILITIES 76 5.1. Introduction 76 5.2. Method 78 5.2.1. Participants 78 5.2.2. Procedure 79 5.2.3. Questionnaire 79 5.2.4. Written Interview 81 5.2.5. Analysis 84 5.2.5.1. Statistical Analysis 84 5.2.5.2. Qualitative Analysis 84 5.3. Results 85 5.3.1. Reliability Analysis and Validity Analysis 85 5.3.2. Descriptive Analysis and Mann-Whitney U-test 85 5.3.2.1. User Experience of Intelligent Personal Assistants 85 5.3.2.2. Effects of the Use of Intelligent Personal Assistants on Quality of Life 87 5.3.3. Analysis on the Written Interview 89 5.3.3.1. Analysis on Issues Related to User Experience from the Written Interview 89 5.3.3.2. Semantic Network Analysis on the Written Interview 91 5.4. Discussion 99 5.4.1. User Experience of Intelligent Personal Assistants 99 5.4.1.1. Discussion on the Statistical Analysis 99 5.4.1.2. Discussion on the Analysis on the Written Interview 106 5.4.2. Effects of the Use of Intelligent Personal Assistants on Quality of Life 110 5.4.2.1. Discussion on the Statistical Analysis 110 5.4.2.2. Discussion on the Analysis on the Written Interview 111 5.4.3. Design Implications for User Experience of Intelligent Personal Assistants for Users with Disabilities 112 5.5. Conclusion 115 CHAPTER 6 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 118 6.1. Summary of this Research 118 6.2. Contributions of this Research 121 6.3. Limitations of this Research and Future Studies 124 BIBLIOGRAPHY 126 APPENDIX 143 ABSTRACT IN KOREAN (국문 초록) 181Docto

Analyzing Interaction for Automated Adaptation – First Steps in the IAAA Project

Because of an aging society and the relevance of computer-based systems in a variety of fields of our life, personalization of software systems is becoming more important by the day in order to prevent usage errors and create a good user experience. However, personalization typically is a time-consuming and costly process if it is done through manual configuration. Automated adaptation to specific users’ needs is, therefore, a useful way to reduce the efforts necessary. The IAAA project focuses on the analysis of user interaction capabilities and the implementation of automated adaptations based on them. However, the success of these endeavors is strongly reliant on a careful selection of interaction modalities as well as profound knowledge of the target group’s general interaction behavior. Therefore, as a first step in the project, an extensive task-based user observation with thorough involvement of the actual target group was conducted in order to determine input devices and modalities that would in a second step become subject of the first prototypic implementations. This paper discusses the general objectives of the IAAA project, describes the methodology and aims behind the user observation and presents its results

Effects of Adjustments to Wheelchair Seat to Back Support Angle on Head, Neck, and Shoulder Postures

Background: People spend a long time in the sitting position may have poor alignment that leads to neck and back pain. A wheelchair represents mobility for people with cerebral palsy, who are unable to walk. They spend long periods of time sitting in their wheelchair. Opining the seat to back support angle of the wheelchair enable realignment body segments and improves posture. Objective: 1) assessed the validity/reliability of Coach’s Eye (CE) smart device application, 2) examined the effect of seat to back support angle adjustments on head, neck, and shoulder posture in the sitting position, and 3) compared changes in cervical rotation at each seat to back support angle. Methods: Thirty-four subjects between the ages of 18 and 45 years abled subjects and subjects with cerebral palsy. All subjects sat in a research wheelchair with seat to back support angle at (90°, 100°, and 110°). Photographs were taken and analyzed by ImageJ and cache’s Eye (CE) software. Three body posture angles were used: sagittal head angle (SHA), cervical angle (CVA), and shoulder angle (SA). Results: There were highly significant differences on abled subjects for CVA and SA (p \u3c 0.001) among the three seat to back support angles. CE had high validity for all angles (r = 0.99, 0.98, 0.99 respectively, p \u3c 0.001). Inter-rater reliability for SHA, CVA, and SA among the three seat to back support angles was high (ICC ranged from 0.95 to 0.99). There were highly significant differences on abled subjects for CVA and SA (p \u3c 0.001). There were highly significant differences on subjects with cerebral palsy for SHA and CVA (p \u3c 0.001) among the three seat to back support angles. Conclusion: Head (CVA) and shoulder (SA) alignment was closest to neutral posture for abled subjects with seat to back support angles set at 110° and 90°, respectively. Head (SHA) and (CVA) alignment was closest to neutral posture for subjects with CP with seat to back support angles set at 110°

How a Diverse Research Ecosystem Has Generated New Rehabilitation Technologies: Review of NIDILRR’s Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers

Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a “total approach to rehabilitation”, combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970’s, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program