Introduction to the proceedings of ICTD2009

Welcome to the 3rd International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD2009). It is with great pleasure that we present the ICTD2009 proceedings, which include all of the full papers presented at the conference in Doha, Qatar, held on 17-19 April 2009

Wayfinding and Navigation for People with Disabilities Using Social Navigation Networks

To achieve safe and independent mobility, people usually depend on published information, prior experience, the knowledge of others, and/or technology to navigate unfamiliar outdoor and indoor environments. Today, due to advances in various technologies, wayfinding and navigation systems and services are commonplace and are accessible on desktop, laptop, and mobile devices. However, despite their popularity and widespread use, current wayfinding and navigation solutions often fail to address the needs of people with disabilities (PWDs). We argue that these shortcomings are primarily due to the ubiquity of the compute-centric approach adopted in these systems and services, where they do not benefit from the experience-centric approach. We propose that following a hybrid approach of combining experience-centric and compute-centric methods will overcome the shortcomings of current wayfinding and navigation solutions for PWDs

Enhancing an Automated Braille Writing Tutor

Abstract-The reported work advances the state-of-the-art in assistive technology for the blind by enhancing a low-cost automated tutor designed to teach braille writing skills to visually impaired children using voice feedback. We first provide some background on how the methodology of Intelligent Tutoring Systems correlates to an automated tutor for teaching braille writing skills. We then build on prior work to enhance our automated Braille Writing Tutor in three dimensions: (1) Initial field testing in three different countries; (2) Exploring customization needs for improving relevance in different cultures; and (3) Adding relevant games for increasing motivation. The outcome of this work is an enhanced low-cost tool that can help to increase braille literacy in blind communities around the world. I. INTRODUCTION LMOST 90% of the world's visually impaired people live in developing communities removed from the slate and turned over. Thus, learning to write braille can be difficult for the following reasons. First, children must learn mirror images of all letters, which doubles the alphabet and creates a disparity between the written and read forms of each letter. Second, feedback is delayed until the paper is removed and then flipped over and read. For young children, this delay can make braille conceptually challenging because the act of writing has no immediate feedback. It also takes longer for both the student and the teacher to identify and correct mistakes, and this slows the learning process. Together, these challenges contribute to the problem of illiteracy among the blind; especially in developing communities. Even in developed countries, writing braille with a slate and stylus is still viewed as the simplest and most affordable and portable format for note taking. In fact, some efforts are being made in the USA to renew the interest and skills for writing braille using a slate and stylus. Thus, assistive braille writing technology can have significant impact on millions of lives. We address some of these challenges in learning to write braille through the automated tutor shown in Enhancing an Automated Braille Writing Tuto

The techbridgeworld initiative: Broadening perspectives in computing technology education and research

The growing demand for technological innovation to empower developing communities and enable sustainable development requires new and creative educational initiatives. Thus, well designed higher educational initiatives geared towards appropriate technology for developing communities can have a significant global impact. This paper presents the challenges and benefits of a higher education initiative, TechBridgeWorld, at Carnegie Mellon University that focuses on innovating and implementing relevant technology for developing communities. The authors examine the potential intersections of computing technologies with education and sustainable development. Several programs launched through the TechBridgeWorld initiative are described, and results of a pilot study carried out in Ghana for one of the TechBridgeWorld programs, Project Kané, are presented. The paper concludes with an analysis of lessons learned by the authors through launching the TechBridgeWorld initiative, and other related experiences

TraderBots: A New Paradigm for Robust and Efficient Multirobot Coordination in Dynamic Environments

The problem of efficient multirobot coordination has risen to the forefront of robotics research in recent years. The wide range of application domains demanding multirobot solutions motivates interest in this problem. In general, multirobot coordination strategies assume either a centralized approach, where a single robot/agent plans for the group, or a distributed approach, where each robot is responsible for its own planning. Inherent to many centralized approaches are difficulties such as intractable solutions for large groups, sluggish response to changes in the local environment, heavy communication requirements, and brittle systems with single points of failure. The key advantage of centralized approaches is that they can produce globally optimal plans. While most distributed approaches can overcome the obstacles inherent to centralized approaches, they can only produce suboptimal plans because they cannot take full advantage of information available to all team members. This work develops TraderBots, a market-based coordination approach that is inherently distributed, but also opportunistically forms centralized sub-groups to improve efficiency. Robots are self-interested agents with the primary goal of maximizing individual profits. The revenue/cost models and rules of engagement are designed so that maximizing individual profit has the benevolent effect of, on average, moving the team toward the globally optimal solution. This approach inherits the flexibility of markets in allowing cooperation and competition to emerge opportunistically. The outlined approach addresses the multirobot coordination problem for autonomous robotic teams executing tasks in dynamic environments where it is highly desirable to produce efficient solutions. This dissertation details the first in-depth study of the applicability of market-based techniques to the multirobot coordination and provides a detailed study of the requirements for robust and efficient multirobot coordination in dynamic environments. Contributions of this dissertation are the first extensive investigation of the application of market-based techniques to multirobot coordination, the most versatile coordinationapproach for dynamic multirobot application domains, the first distributed multirobot coordination-approach that allows opportunistic optimization by “leaders”, the first indepth investigation of the requirements for robust multirobot coordination in dynamic environments, the most extensively implemented market-based multirobot coordination approach, and the first systematic comparative analysis of multirobot coordination approaches implemented on a robot team

Investigating the Viability of MEMS Vapor Sensors for Detecting Land Mines

This paper reports the design specification and process for constructing a gas identification instrument using MEMS technology for the purpose of detecting buried land mines. The aim is to design an instrument to detect and identify gases that leak from buried land mines using an array of sensors and a pattern recognition/signature identification system. This report focuses on the design of the sensor array. The principal component of the sensors is a conducting polymer that is reversibly physically altered when exposed to different chemical compounds. Physical changes experienced by the polymer in the presence of the gas molecules are detected and converted into electrical signals by two kinds of transducers. Crystal oscillator-microbalances with MHz oscillating frequencies detect changes in the polymer’s mass via the shift in frequency in one type of sensor. In the other sensing configuration, current traveling through the polymer for a fixed voltage source is measured to detect the changes in the polymer’s resistance. The first type of sensor is a miniaturized version of the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) which is based on the mechanical principle that resonant frequency decreases with increased mass. The second type of sensor uses carbon black-polymer composite films, which swell reversibly when exposed to a variety of gases and thus induce a resistance change. In order to allow this sensor to be reproduced accurately, high aspect ratio wells are constructed using an SU-8 photoresist, and the polymer solvent liquid is injected into these wells. The response of the sensor array to different gases, and also different concentrations of the gases, provides a signature by means of which the identity and concentration of a variety of gases can be recognized

NavPal: Technology Solutions for Enhancing Urban Navigation for Blind Travelers

<p>In this report, we describe our vision for computing technology tools that can enhance the safety and independence of blind and visually impaired people navigating unfamiliar indoor environments. We describe the overall roadmap for our work, along with the research to date on each component of this roadmap. This set of tools, known as “NavPal”, combines a variety of techniques and technologies including robots, crowdsourcing, advanced path-planning and multi-modal interfaces. All of these tools and the framework have been informed, tested, and endorsed by many blind and visually impaired adults, and by several Orientation and Mobility experts.</p