Towards an affordable assistive device for personal autonomy recovery in tasks required of manual dexterity

This paper reviews the results of a challenging engineering project that arose with the goal of implementing an electromechanical, automatic, portable, and inexpensive device. The device should be able to assist people who lack of dexterity in their hands to use small tools and everyday utensils, such as scissors or tweezers. In this paper, the hardware development and software functionality are described. The original specifications were developed to implement an affordable functional prototype able to serve as a low-cost assistive technology. Several commonly used electronic devices were integrated to create an innovative application. A simple mechanical system based on gears and a worm screw is used to convert the stepper motor rotation to a linear movement on the device tip. A tool-oriented control to increase the device usability was designed through two simultaneous communication channels: touch-screen and smartphone app. Pilot trials were conducted at healthcare facilities to evaluate the technical feasibility, the obtained functionality, as well as the device acceptance by target users. Based on user experience design, the app functionality was enhanced and subsequently tested. Finally, a review and reformulation of the specifications of the original design were accomplished. These changes helped to achieve a system with a lower manufacturing cost and better acceptance, while considering the user in the development cycle.This work was supported in part by the RoboCity2030-III-CM Project (Robotica aplicada a la mejora de la calidad de vida de los ciudadanos. Fase III; S2013/MIT-2748), in part by the Programas de Actividades I+D en la Comunidad de Madrid, in part by the Structural Funds of the EU, and in part by the private Fundacion Universia

Include 2011 : The role of inclusive design in making social innovation happen.

Include is the biennial conference held at the RCA and hosted by the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design. The event is directed by Jo-Anne Bichard and attracts an international delegation

Medical robots with potential applications in participatory and opportunistic remote sensing: A review

Among numerous applications of medical robotics, this paper concentrates on the design, optimal use and maintenance of the related technologies in the context of healthcare, rehabilitation and assistive robotics, and provides a comprehensive review of the latest advancements in the foregoing field of science and technology, while extensively dealing with the possible applications of participatory and opportunistic mobile sensing in the aforementioned domains. The main motivation for the latter choice is the variety of such applications in the settings having partial contributions to functionalities such as artery, radiosurgery, neurosurgery and vascular intervention. From a broad perspective, the aforementioned applications can be realized via various strategies and devices benefiting from detachable drives, intelligent robots, human-centric sensing and computing, miniature and micro-robots. Throughout the paper tens of subjects, including sensor-fusion, kinematic, dynamic and 3D tissue models are discussed based on the existing literature on the state-of-the-art technologies. In addition, from a managerial perspective, topics such as safety monitoring, security, privacy and evolutionary optimization of the operational efficiency are reviewed

Pathways to non-complex assistive technology for HACC clients in WA : full report

The project aims to identify, evaluate and make recommendations to improve the pathways by which West Australian (WA) Home and Community Care (HACC) clients access daily living equipment. Otherwise known as assistive technology (AT), these devices are largely non-complex and often low cost. Funded by HACC and conducted within the context of the WA Assessment Framework (WAAF), the project seeks to answer the following question:&nbsp; &nbsp; How can aids and equipment be most effectively assessed, accessed, funded and used?The research is designed to inform WA state government policy and Commonwealth HACC government policy in relation to the funding of HACC client access to assistive technology. Whilst set in WA, the topic and findings have relevance to HACC in other Australian states and territories, as well as other aspects of aged care policy, other sectors such as disability, and other areas of inquiry such as competency standards and consumer self-direction.</div

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

WiGlove : A Passive Dynamic Orthosis for Home-based Post-stroke Rehabilitation of Hand and Wrist

Stroke survivors often experience varying levels of motor function deficits in their hands affecting their ability to perform activities of daily life. Recovering their hand functions through neurorehabilitation is a significant step in their recovery towards independent living. Home-based rehabilitation using robotic devices allows stroke survivors to train at their convenience independent of factors such as the availability of therapists’ appointments and the need for frequent travel to outpatient clinics. While many robotic solutions have been proposed to address the above concerns, most focus on training only the wrist or the fingers, neglecting the synergy between the two. To address this, the WiGlove was co-designed to allow hemiparetic stroke survivors to train both the wrist and fingers in the comfort of their homes. The central hypothesis of this work is to investigate if a device designed using user-centred methods featuring aspects of usability such as easy donning and doffing and wireless operation, can act as a feasible tool for home-based rehabilitation of the hand and wrist following stroke. In order to aid this investigation, we tackled this task in three stages of usability and feasibility evaluations. Firstly, healthy participants tried the current state of the art, the SCRIPT Passive Orthosis, as well as the WiGlove, in a counterbalanced, within-subject experiment and attested to WiGlove’s improvement in several aspects of usability such as ease of don/doffing, suitability for ADL, unblocked natural degrees of freedom, safety and aesthetic appeal. Subsequently, a heuristic evaluation with six stroke therapists validated these improvements and helped identify issues they perceived to potentially affect the device’s acceptance. Integrating this feedback, the updated WiGlove was subjected to a six-week summative feasibility evaluation with two stroke survivors, with varying levels of impairment, in their homes without supervision from the therapists. Results from this study were overwhelmingly positive on the usability and acceptance of the WiGlove. Furthermore, in the case of the first participant who trained with it for a total of 39 hours, notable improvements were observed in the participant’s hand functions. It showed that even without a prescribed training protocol, both participants were willing to train regularly with the WiGlove and its games, sometimes several times a day. These results demonstrate that WiGlove can be a promising tool for home-based rehabilitation for stroke survivors and serve as evidence for a larger user study with more participants with varying levels of motor impairments due to stroke. The findings of this study also offer preliminary evidence supporting the effectiveness of training with the WiGlove, particularly in the case of the first participant, who exhibited a significant reduction of tone in the hand as a result of increased training intensity. Owing to the participant’s satisfaction with the device, it was requested by him to extend his involvement in the study by using the WiGlove for a longer duration which was facilitated

Enabling an ageing workforce: Using design to innovate the workplace and empower older workers

Australia’s population is ageing, but with enhanced health prospects and insufficient retirement funds, and industries impacted by a dwindling itinerate manual labour supply, workers will want, and may need, to remain in the workforce for longer. However, as people age, they lose muscular strength, experience a decline in physical and cognitive performance, and are more vulnerable to muscular-skeletal issues caused by repetitive or awkward movement patterns. Consequently, ageing workers in occupations that require sustained physical activities are at increased risk of injury and exacerbated physical decline and may experience ageist discrimination in the workplace that impacts their psychological wellbeing. This research, Enabling an Ageing Workforce, recognises the issues facing the older worker across a range of different workplace contexts and asks the question: How can design and new technologies address the compounding factors of an ageing (working) population and enable older workers to continue to be productive and effective whilst ensuring their personal wellbeing? Enabling an Ageing Workforce’ is a collaborative research and design project between RMIT University’s ‘Safeness by Design’ initiative and the Innovation Centre of WorkSafe Victoria. This project investigates ageing, wellbeing, and workplace safeness within specific industries to identify areas of concern, opportunities for design intervention, and the proposal of future-focused design solutions. The researchers conduct a substantial scope of enquiry, while concurrently undertaking a partnered design studio with Industrial Design students, to develop and respond with appropriate design solutions. The research identifies that safeness issues exist across specific industry contexts because of workplace culture, practices and predominant behaviours, specific work actions and activities, workplace design, economic and time pressures, and poor risk literacy, training and awareness. The design studio component sees students addressing research-identified issues across many industry sectors and workplace contexts to: • prevent musculoskeletal issues in healthcare workers in the homecare environment, • correct harmful movement behaviours in manufacturing environments, • support older workers in manual tasks, through assistive technologies, • address mental health in the construction industry, • reduce ladder injuries in the residential construction industry, • reduce vibration related injuries in the agricultural sector. This research reveals insights into how a ‘safeness by design’ lens can enable an ageing Australian workforce. Such an approach needs to balance pre-emptive and reactive safety measures, focusing on creating a safe and supportive working environment for all workers. Whilst it is important to support older workers to reduce risk or injury and to promote their capability and performance, enabling longevity, it is also critical to implement measures that protect younger workers from unsafe workplace behaviours, processes and expectations that can lead to longer-term impairment, and may result in them leaving that industry prematurely