3 research outputs found
Mobile Interface for a Smart Wheelchair
Smart wheelchairs are designed for severely motor impaired people
that have difficulties to drive standard -manual or electric poweredwheelchairs.
Their goal is to automate driving tasks as much as possible in
order to minimize user intervention. Nevertheless, human involvement is still
necessary to maintain high level task control. Therefore in the interface design
it is necessary to take into account the restrictions imposed by the system
(mobile and small), by the type of users (people with severe motor restrictions)
and by the task (to select a destination among a number of choices in a
structured environment). This paper describes the structure of an adaptive
mobile interface for smart wheelchairs that is driven by the context.Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología TER96-2056-C02-0
Classificação de pacientes para adaptação de cadeira de rodas inteligente
Doutoramento em Engenharia InformáticaA importância e preocupação dedicadas à autonomia e independência das
pessoas idosas e dos pacientes que sofrem de algum tipo de deficiência tem
vindo a aumentar significativamente ao longo das últimas décadas. As
cadeiras de rodas inteligentes (CRI) são tecnologias que podem ajudar este
tipo de população a aumentar a sua autonomia, sendo atualmente uma área
de investigação bastante ativa. Contudo, a adaptação das CRIs a pacientes
específicos e a realização de experiências com utilizadores reais são assuntos
de estudo ainda muito pouco aprofundados.
A cadeira de rodas inteligente, desenvolvida no âmbito do Projeto IntellWheels,
é controlada a alto nível utilizando uma interface multimodal flexível,
recorrendo a comandos de voz, expressões faciais, movimentos de cabeça e
através de joystick. Este trabalho teve como finalidade a adaptação automática
da CRI atendendo às características dos potenciais utilizadores.
Foi desenvolvida uma metodologia capaz de criar um modelo do utilizador. A
investigação foi baseada num sistema de recolha de dados que permite obter
e armazenar dados de voz, expressões faciais, movimentos de cabeça e do
corpo dos pacientes. A utilização da CRI pode ser efetuada em diferentes
situações em ambiente real e simulado e um jogo sério foi desenvolvido
permitindo especificar um conjunto de tarefas a ser realizado pelos
utilizadores. Os dados foram analisados recorrendo a métodos de extração de
conhecimento, de modo a obter o modelo dos utilizadores. Usando os
resultados obtidos pelo sistema de classificação, foi criada uma metodologia
que permite selecionar a melhor interface e linguagem de comando da cadeira
para cada utilizador.
A avaliação para validação da abordagem foi realizada no âmbito do Projeto
FCT/RIPD/ADA/109636/2009 - "IntellWheels - Intelligent Wheelchair with
Flexible Multimodal Interface". As experiências envolveram um vasto conjunto
de indivíduos que sofrem de diversos níveis de deficiência, em estreita
colaboração com a Escola Superior de Tecnologia de Saúde do Porto e a
Associação do Porto de Paralisia Cerebral. Os dados recolhidos através das
experiências de navegação na CRI foram acompanhados por questionários
preenchidos pelos utilizadores. Estes dados foram analisados estatisticamente,
a fim de provar a eficácia e usabilidade na adequação da interface da CRI ao
utilizador. Os resultados mostraram, em ambiente simulado, um valor de
usabilidade do sistema de 67, baseado na opinião de uma amostra de
pacientes que apresentam os graus IV e V (os mais severos) de Paralisia
Cerebral. Foi também demonstrado estatisticamente que a interface atribuída
automaticamente pela ferramenta tem uma avaliação superior à sugerida pelos
técnicos de Terapia Ocupacional, mostrando a possibilidade de atribuir
automaticamente uma linguagem de comando adaptada a cada utilizador.
Experiências realizadas com distintos modos de controlo revelaram a
preferência dos utilizadores por um controlo compartilhado com um nível de
ajuda associado ao nível de constrangimento do paciente. Em conclusão, este
trabalho demonstra que é possível adaptar automaticamente uma CRI ao
utilizador com claros benefícios a nível de usabilidade e segurança.The importance and concern given to the autonomy and independence of
elderly people and patients suffering from some kind of disability has been
growing significantly in the last few decades. Intelligent wheelchairs (IW) are
technologies that can increase the autonomy and independence of this kind of
population and are nowadays a very active research area. However, the
adaptations to users’ specificities and experiments with real users are topics
that lack deeper studies.
The intelligent wheelchair, developed in the context of the IntellWheels project,
is controlled at a high-level through a flexible multimodal interface, using voice
commands, facial expressions, head movements and joystick as its main input
modalities. This work intended to develop a system enabling the automatic
adaptation, to the user characteristics, of the previously developed intelligent
wheelchair.
A methodology was created enabling the creation of a user model. The
research was based on the development of a data gathering system, enabling
the collection and storage of data from voice commands, facial expressions,
head and body movements from several patients with distinct disabilities such
as Cerebral Palsy. The wheelchair can be used in different situations in real
and simulated environments and a serious game was developed where
different tasks may be performed by users.
Data was analysed using knowledge discovery methods in order to create an
automatic patient classification system. Based on the classification system, a
methodology was developed enabling to select the best wheelchair interface
and command language for each patient.
Evaluation was performed in the context of Project FCT/RIPD/ADA/109636/
2009 – “IntellWheels – Intelligent Wheelchair with Flexible Multimodal
Interface”. Experiments were conducted, using a large set of patients suffering
from severe physical constraints in close collaboration with Escola Superior de
Tecnologia de Saúde do Porto and Associação do Porto de Paralisia Cerebral.
The experiments using the intelligent wheelchair were followed by user
questionnaires. The results were statistically analysed in order to prove the
effectiveness and usability of the adaptation of the Intelligent Wheelchair
multimodal interface to the user characteristics. The results obtained in a
simulated environment showed a 67 score on the system usability scale based
in the opinion of a sample of cerebral palsy patients with the most severe cases
IV and V of the Gross Motor Function Scale. It was also statistically
demonstrated that the data analysis system advised the use of an adapted
interface with higher evaluation than the one suggested by the occupational
therapists, showing the usefulness of defining a command language adapted to
each user. Experiments conducted with distinct control modes revealed the
users' preference for a shared control with an aid level taking into account the
level of constraint of the patient. In conclusion, this work demonstrates that it is
possible to adapt an intelligent wheelchair to the user with clear usability and
safety benefits
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Constructionism through mobile interactive knowledge elicitation (MIKE) in human-computer interaction
Mobile computing holds significant as-yet unknown applications of interest in the field of Cyberscience (e-Science) methods. This thesis provides a diverse exploration into the advancement of HC1 theory through the development and testing of mobile cyberscience tools. This is done by synthesising new metrics from learning epistemologies, with the benefits that can be provided by mobile computing solutions.
This thesis aims to explore how mobile cyberscience can improve HCI knowledge elicitation (KE) methods. A review of the current state of the art in mobile computing and mobile HCI demonstrates that there is very little reported research in the direction of applying mobile computing to HCI theory (rather than the reverse which is demonstrated to be significantly considered in academia). This motivates a review of the current methods and cyberscience-based tools in the domain of KE in HCI, with several prototype mobile tool designs discussed. A review of candidate grounding theories in pedagogical epistemologies is then covered to build a theoretical foundation for this work. This facilitates the acquisition of a mobile-applicable investigation candidate, namely Constructionism theory, for software modelling in mobile computing methods in HCI KE. A framework for investigating constructionism is designed and presented, describing three key models that extend the domain of HCI KE theory. Through the design, implementation and testing (both expert and user testing) of several mobile computing tools for HCI KE, termed MIKE (Mobile Interactive Knowledge Elicitation) tools, these three key models of constructionism are explored through empirical research and are reported in this thesis as separate case studies.
Case study 1 investigates the use of inert constructionism through the use of card sorting. Case Study 2 investigates the use of semi-dynamic constructionism through the use of affinity diagramming. Case Study 3 investigates the use of dynamic constructionism, through the use of low fidelity paper prototyping. The findings from these case studies indicate that mobile cyberscience has a significant scope for application in the practice of current-day HCI methods, and that new qualitative measures in HCI can be acquired through mobile cyberscience tools.
There are three main contributions of this thesis that provide practitioners, educators and researchers in HCI with new knowledge. Firstly, the fields of mobile computing and mobile HCI are expanded with the empirically tested simulation of the techniques of card sorting, affinity diagramming and low-fidelity paper prototyping in HCI theory through mobile software. Secondly, a developed framework of constructionism theory successfully enhances the field of HCI KE, contributing to the growth of grounding theories in the field of HCI through the findings of three separately reported case studies. Lastly, cyberscience research for HCI has been given an expansion of research in the area of augmenting HCI with mobile computing. This is achieved through the user centred design, development and user testing of several mobile tools incorporating facilities unique to HCI practitioners, educators and researchers, leading to several related peer-reviewed publications