A Universalist strategy for the design of Assistive Technology

Assistive Technologies are specialized products aiming to partly compensate for the loss of autonomy experienced by disabled people. Because they address special needs in a highly-segmented market, they are often considered as niche products. To improve their design and make them tend to Universality, we propose the EMFASIS framework (Extended Modularity, Functional Accessibility, and Social Integration Strategy). We first elaborate on how this strategy conciliates niche and Universalist views, which may appear conflicting at first sight. We then present three examples illustrating its application for designing Assistive Technologies: the design of an overbed table, an upper-limb powered orthose and a powered wheelchair. We conclude on the expected outcomes of our strategy for the social integration and participation of disabled people

Universal Design for Mobile Phones:

In this paper we describe a case study of Universal Design applied to mobile phone physical devices. Using a user-centered design process, we tried to integrate visually-impaired, hearing-impaired and elderly peoples ’ needs to design mock-ups adapted in terms of usability and design style

Innover pour et par le handicap. Méthodologie de conception de produits adaptée aux marchés de niche: application au marché du handicap moteur.

The law of 11 February 2005 enables a change about the way we perceive disability. Alike for models and definitions development, the associations of People With Disabilities (PWD) keep fighting for accessibility for all of them. It's within this context that our researches claim the benefits of innovating design integrating the needs of these users that indutrials consider as a niche market. As PWD are approximately 50 millions European people worth, can this market be still considered as a niche one? The analysis of the assistive technologies market points up a full scope for an innovation process focused on PWD needs in order to overcome existing lacks. To define the characteristics and the needs of these target users requires to understand and characterize what creates a disability situation. Some PWD specific needs are already at the root of inventions and technological advances used by a majority of people today (e.g. remote control, mixer taps, voice recognition, etc.). We'll try to demonstrate through experiments leaded in partnership with the French Neuromuscular Diseases Association that knowledge of target users needs can be considered as a potential source of innovation for everybody.La loi du 11 février 2005 a permis de changer le regard que nous portons sur le handicap. Parallèlement à l'évolution des modèles et définitions, les associations de personnes en situation de handicap (PSH) continuent à se battre pour une société plus accessible. C'est dans ce contexte que nos travaux de recherche revendiquent l'intérêt d'une conception de l'innovation qui prend en compte les besoins de ces utilisateurs considérés comme une population de niche de la part des industriels. En effet, si l'on considère que les PSH représentent environ 50 millions d'européens, ce marché est-il encore considéré comme un marché de niche ? L'analyse du marché des technologies pour l'autonomie montre qu'il existe un réel champ d'action pour une démarche d'innovation centrée sur les besoins des PSH afin de pallier les manques existants. Pouvoir définir les caractéristiques et besoins de ces utilisateurs cibles, nécessite alors de comprendre et de caractériser ce qui crée une situation de handicap. Enfin, certains besoins spécifiques des PSH ont déjà donné lieu à des inventions et des progrès technologiques dont la majorité de la population dispose aujourd'hui (e.g. la télécommande, les robinets mitigeurs, la reconnaissance vocale, etc.). Nous essaierons donc de démontrer au travers d'expérimentations menées en partenariat avec l'Association Française contre les Myopathies que la connaissance des besoins de ces utilisateurs cibles peut donc être considérée comme une source potentielle d'innovation pour tous

Evaluation of a mobile manipulator arm by disabled people

International audienceARPH project deals with restoring object manipulating and grasping function for upper limb handicapped people. The system is a semi autonomous mobile arm manipulator designed keeping in mind specificities due to a close cooperation between human and machine. In order to take into account the diversity of situation three kinds of control modes are proposed to the user. The paper focuses on the evaluation of ARPH system by disabled people in situation close to daily living. Several types of information were obtained concerning use, interface, ergonomics, safety and training. It should be noted that the phase of familiarisation during which the people were free to use the robot with their own way was particularly interesting for the usage foreseen by the designers of the product and the need for physical exchanges with others that the robot by its capacities of displacement and contact makes it possible to recreate..