Orientation method for people with cognitive disabilities

Doctoral Thesis (Degree in Biomedical Engineering)Pessoas com incapacidade (física ou cognitiva) representam uma pequena percentagem da população de um país. No entanto, os custos de saúde inerentes a este grupo de pessoas são habitualmente elevados quando comparados com uma pessoa normal. Assim, é necessário encontrar soluções que ajudem no dia a dia destas pessoas. Aquando do diagnóstico de perdas cognitivas, se tal já não tiver ocorrido, o paciente pode ser impedido de viver sozinho e a presença de um cuidador poderá ser necessária. De forma a diminuir esta invasão de privacidade e permitir uma vida independente do paciente na sua própria casa é necessária adaptar a mesma ao conceito de casa inteligente, a qual permite que o cuidador aceda de forma remota e verifique o estado do utilizador. Porém, a casa inteligente não permite a monitorização do utilizador quando este se encontra no exterior. Assim, de forma a manter-se seguro, este pode tornar-se um prisioneiro da sua própria habitação. Para que a pessoa com perdas cognitiva tenha uma normal interação com a sociedade surge a necessidade de um sistema de orientação adaptável ao exterior e que esteja em conformidade com este grupo de utilizadores. Se se considerarem os dois principais sistemas operativos para dispositivos móveis (i.e., iOS e Android) existe um grande número de aplicações que guiam o utilizador até ao destino pretendido utilizando GPS. Porém, existem muito poucas que sejam adequadas para pessoas com incapacidade. Por outro lado, para além da capacidade de orientação, existe uma outra característica deveras significativa do ponto de vista do cuidador, a capacidade de localização que lhe permite o acesso de forma remota à localização do utilizador final. Esta característica é vital uma vez que os métodos tradicionais de orientação são realmente dispendiosos, levando os cuidadores a acompanhar os pacientes durante as suas deslocações. Desta forma, tanto o tempo como os recursos despendidos durante a aprendizagem são desperdiçados. Vários autores desenvolveram sistemas de orientação adaptados tendo em consideração as características e especificidades do utilizador. A principal preocupação centrava-se na interface do utilizador, uma vez que consideravam que os sistemas disponíveis eram demasiado complexos para serem utilizados por este tipo de indivíduos. O sistema desenvolvido (i.e., CogHelper) tem uma interface adaptada ao utilizador, a qual utiliza realidade aumentada para concretizar o processo de orientação. O sistema possui também a capacidade de localização em tempo real onde o(s) cuidador(es) podem monitorizar o utilizador final. O nosso principal objectivo não recaiu sobre a interface do utilizador, uma vez que esta já tinha sido previamente estudada, mas na forma como a informação era fornecida ao utilizador. Desta forma, o caminho selecionado para guiar o utilizador é adaptado às suas preferências. De forma a prevenir possíveis erros durante o percurso, o sistema calcula possíveis pontos nos quais o utilizador pode tomar uma decisão errada, e alertá-lo de forma a manter-se no caminho correto. Estas características baseiam-se num módulo de pattern mining (para fornecer o caminho adaptado) e numa abordagem de computação especulativa (para antecipar possíveis erros do utilizador).People with disabilities (physical or cognitive) represent a small percentage of a country population. However, the health costs are usually higher when compared to an ordinary person. Thus, one should seek solutions to help the day life of such group of people. When diagnosed with cognitive disabilities the patient may be prevented to live alone and a caregiver may be needed. To avoid this privacy invasion and enable the patient to live independently in his home, there is the need to adapt it to the concept of smart house, which enables the caregiver to remotely access and check the user status. However, the smart house is not able to monitor the user when he goes outside its premises. Thus, in order to keep the user safe, he may become a prisoner of his own home. To engage people with cognitive disabilities in a normal interaction with the surrounding environment there is the need of a portable orientation system that works outdoors and is adapted to this audience. If one look over the two main operative systems for mobile devices (i.e., iOS and Android) there is a huge number of applications that guides the user through GPS to the intended destination. However, there are just a few adapted to people with disabilities. Besides the orientation feature there is also another important one from the perspective of the caregivers, i.e., a localization feature which allows these second type of users to remotely access the main user location. This is specially important since traditional methods are very expensive, and due to this lack of information caregivers tend to be all the time with the patient during his journey. Thus, the effort and resources spent to teach the user are wasted. Different authors had developed adapted orientation systems considering the user specificities and characteristics. Their main concern was the user interface, since they considered that available systems were too complex to be used by these group of people. The system that was developed (i.e., CogHelper) has an adapted interface, which uses augmented reality to provide the orientation to the user. It has also a real-time localization feature where caregivers may know the user location. Our focus was not on the user interface, since it was already studied, but on how to provide the necessary information to the user. Thus, the path followed by the user is adapted to his preferences. In order to avoid mistakes during the traveling path, the system may calculate possible locations in which the user takes the wrong turn and alert him to keep on the correct path. These features are based on a pattern mining module (to provide the preferred path) and on a speculative computation approach (to anticipate possible user mistakes).The work of João Ramos is supported by a doctoral grant by FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (SFRH/BD/89530/2012)

Sistema de geo-localização referencial para pessoas com perdas cognitivas

Dissertação de mestrado em Engenharia BiomédicaA tecnologia tem revelado avanços significativos ao longo dos anos. Porém os desenvolvimentos não se focaram apenas na área da computação, expandido-se para outras áreas como a saúde, permitindo o desenvolvimento de novas técnicas de diagnóstico ou o aperfeiçoamento das existentes. Desta forma a qualidade de vida e os cuidados de saúde disponibilizados pelas instituições às pessoas foram melhorados. No entanto, estes progressos não permitem a total supressão de patologias, existindo algumas sem uma cura efetiva como é o caso das perdas cognitivas. O diagnóstico de perdas cognitivas pode potenciar algumas modificações na vida do paciente como, por exemplo, a presença de uma pessoa prestadora de cuidados, provocando a perda de independência do doente. De forma a diminuir a invasão de privacidade, vários investigadores desenvolveram projetos para permitir a orientação destas pessoas, porém exigiam algum esforço mental que pontualmente se poderia tornar demasiado complexo. O projeto desenvolvido pretende orientar as pessoas com perdas cognitivas, permitindo que estas tenham uma vida mais independente. Por outro lado, a pessoa prestadora de cuidados pode desenvolver outro tipo de atividade sem descurar o tipo de serviço que presta através de aplicações que lhe permitem conhecer a posição atual da pessoa a seu cargo. Com este projeto pretende-se que a pessoa com perdas cognitivas tenha uma maior independência tanto em trajetos comuns como em percursos de lazer. Este grau de independência é possível através da utilização de uma aplicação informática para dispositivos móveis que permite a seleção de diversos pontos de interesse e posterior orientação até estes. Este projeto utiliza conceitos de realidade aumentada e sinal GPS para aquisição da localização atual, indicando o caminho através de símbolos simples. Numa outra aplicação para dispositivos móveis o percurso pode ser visualizado em tempo real possibilitando uma constante monitorização da pessoa com perdas cognitivas. No caso de ocorrer alguma eventualidade é possível consultar os últimos pontos frequentados por esta.The technology has shown significant progress over the years. This progress was not exclusive to computers, expanding to other areas such as Health. The use of technology in this field enabled the development of new diagnostic technics or the enhancement of existing ones. Thus the life quality and healthcare provided by institutions to the people were also improved. However, all the progress has not suppressed diseases. There are a few that do not have an effective cure such as cognitive disabilities. When a patient is diagnosed with cognitive disabilities his life quality may suffer some changes. One of the major alterations is the presence of a caregiver. Thus, the patient incurs in a decrease of its independence. In order to reduce this privacy invasion, researchers have developed several projects to enable the orientation of these people, but some of these projects may require some mental effort that sometimes could become very complex. The developed project intends to guide people with cognitive disabilities in a simplistic way, allowing them to become more independent. Moreover, the caregiver may develop another type of activity without neglecting the type of service provided due to the applications that let him/her know the current position of the person with cognitive disabilities. With this project it is intended to provide a greater independence to the person with cognitive disabilities in common paths and leisure travels. This improvement in the independence of the person is achieved through an application for mobile devices that allows the selection of several points of interest and further orientation. This project uses concepts of augmented reality and the GPS signal to get the user current location. Through simple symbols the path is indicated. In another application for mobile devices the route can be viewed in real time enabling a constant monitoring of the person with cognitive disabilities. This application also provides the caregiver the visualization of the last points frequented by the person with cognitive disabilities

Interactive guiding and localization platform

Technology is now part of everyone’s life, being widespread and present in the most innocuous objects, making people able to benefit from several technological solutions that only a few years ago were impossible to be implemented. For instance, the smartphone is one example of this type of technology. Usually, this device is equipped with several sensors and a GPS module, which may be used as an orientation system when it carries the right features. The current trend is providing advanced applications to the common public, excluding some fringes of the population, like the people with cognitive disabilities. Thus, everyday technology can be used for helping on several tasks, becoming an interactive terminal, aware of the user conditions. There may be orientation applications that are too complex to be used by people with cognitive disabilities. Therefore, the main goal of this work is to build and implement an orientation method that may be used by people with mild cognitive disabilities and provides several tools to the caregivers. Furthermore, the system is linked to external services like iGenda so the user is stimulated to go outside and increase his/her social participation or not to miss an appointment. The developed system is also a localization system, enabling caregivers to know in real-time the location of the person with cognitive disabilities. Allowing the user to have an independent life.The work of João Ramos was supported by the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) through the doctoral grant SFRH/BD/- 89530/2012. The work of Angelo Costa through the Project ”AAL4ALL”, co-financed by the European Community Fund FEDER, through COMPETE - Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade (POFC). The work of Paulo Novais through the project CAMCoF - Context-aware Multimodal Communication Framework funded by ERDF - European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT - Fundac¸ ˜ao para a Ciˆencia e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028980

Adapting the user path through trajectory data mining

The pervasiveness of location based services such the GPS on mobile devices enabled the gathering of massive spatial-temporal data. These databases enabled the mining of new data in order to calculate frequent patterns and predict the movement of the objects. In the development of our system for guiding the user with cognitive disabilities (CogHelper) we are applying a trajectory data mining to adapt and adjust the path to user preferences. Indeed, the guiding process may be more useful and it increases the quality of life of the user through this new functionality (conciliated with the speculative computation module). Thus, instead of the user having to adapt to the application we are developing a system that adapts the path to the user. Rather than being guided through the shortest path he may be oriented by a longer but preferred path. The main contribution of this paper is the specification of the trajectory data mining which is incorporated in CogHelper system.This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013. The work of João Ramos is supported by a FCT doctoral grant with the reference SFRH/BD/89530/2012.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Geo-localization system for people with cognitive disabilities

Technology is present in almost every simple aspect of the people’s daily life. As an instance, let us refer to the smartphone. This device is usually equipped with a GPS module which may be used as an orientation system, if it carries the right functionalities. The problem is that these applications may be complex to operate and may not be within the bounds of everybody. Therefore, the main goal here is to develop an orientation system that may help people with cognitive disabilities in their day-to-day journeys, when the caregivers are absent. On the other hand, to keep paid helpers aware of the current location of the disable people, it will be also considered a localization system. Knowing their current locations, caregivers may engage in others activities without neglecting their prime work, and, at the same time, turning people with cognitive disabilities more independent.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028980 (PTDC/EEI-SII/1386/2012)ERDF - European Regional Development Funds through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028980 (PTDC/EEI-SII/1386/2012)

Orientation system based on speculative computation and trajectory mining

Assistive technologies help users with disabilities (physical, sensory, intellectual) to perform tasks that were difficult or impossible to execute. Thus, the user autonomy is increased through this technology. Although some adaptation of the user might be needed, the effort should be minimum in order to use devices that convey assistive functionalities. In cognitive disabilities a common diminished capacity is orientation, which is crucial for the autonomy of an individual. There are several research works that tackle this problem, however they are essentially concerned with user guidance and application interface (display of information). The work presented herein aims to overcome these systems through a framework of Speculative Computation, which adds a prediction feature for the next move of the user. With an anticipation feature and a trajectory mining module the user is guided through a preferred path receiving anticipated alerts before a possible shift in the wrong direction.This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT Fundaçãao para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013. The work of João Ramos is supported by a doctoral the FCT grant SFRH/BD/89530/2012. The work of Tiago Oliveira is also supported by the FCT grant with the reference SFRH/BD/85291/2012info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Speculative orientation and tracking system

The current progresses at the intersection of computer science and health care have the potential of greatly improving the living conditions of people with disabilities by removing obstacles that impair the normal unfolding of their everyday lives. Assistive technologies, as an application of scientific knowledge, aim to help users with their diminished capacities and, usually, imply a small adaptation from individuals so that they can use the devices that convey assistive functionalities. One of the most commonly diminished capabilities is that of spatial orientation. This is mirrored by several research works whose goal is to help human beings to travel between locations. Once set up, most of the systems featured in these research works requires changes in the configurations to be made manually in order to achieve a better adjustment to the user. In order to overcome this drawback, the work presented herein features a framework of Speculative Computation to set up the computation of the next step of a user using default values. The consequence of the application of the framework is a faster reaction to user stimuli, which may result in issuing warnings when he is likely to choose the wrong direction.This work is part-funded by ERDF - European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT Fundac¸ao para a Ci ˜ encia e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and ˆ Technology) within project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028980 (PTDC/EEI-SII/1386/2012). The work of Joao Ramos is supported by a doctoral grant by FCT - Fundac¸ ˜ ao para a Ci ˜ encia e a ˆ Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) SFRH/BD/89530/2012. The work of Tiago Oliveira is also supported by the FCT grant with the reference SFRH/BD/85291/- 2012.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

An alert mechanism for orientation systems based on Speculative computation

The role of assistive technologies is to help users with diminished capabilities in the fulfillment of their everyday tasks. One of such tasks is orientation. It is crucial for the autonomy of an individual and, at the same time, it is one of the most challenging tasks for an individual with cognitive disabilities. Existing solutions that tackle this problem are mostly concerned with guidance, tracking and the display of information. However, there is a dimension that has not been the object of concern in existing projects, the prediction of user actions. This work presents a Speculative Module for an orientation system that is used to alert the user for potential mistakes in his path, anticipating possible shifts in the wrong direction in critical points of the route. With this module, it becomes possible to issue warnings to the user and increase his attention so as to avoid a deviation from the correct path.This work is part-funded by ERDF - European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER- 028980 (PTDC/EEI-SII/1386/2012) and within Project Scope UID/CEC/00319/2013. The work of João Ramos is supported by a doctoral the FCT grant SFRH/BD/89530/2012. The work of Tiago Oliveira is also supported by the FCT grant with the reference SFRH/BD/85291/2012.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Automatic verification of design rules in PCB manufacturing

Nowadays, electronics can be found in almost every available device. At the core of electronic devices there are Printed Circuit Boards (PCB). To create a suitable PCB there is the need of complying with several constraints, both concerning electrical and layout design. Thus, the design rules related to the PCB manufacturing and assembly are very important since these restrictions are fundamental to ensure the creation of a viable physical PCB. Electrical Computer Aided Design (ECAD) tools are able to automatically verify such rules, but they only consider a subset of the total required rules. The remaining rules are currently manually checked, which may increase the occurrence of errors and, consequently, increase the overall costs in designing and in the manufacturing process of a PCB. Being the design a crucial phase in the manufacturing procedure, a software system that automatically verifies all design rules and produce the corresponding assessment report is fundamental. Such software system is addressed in this paper.This work was funded by the project “iFACTORY: Novas Capacidades de Industrialização”, with reference 002814 supported by FEDER trough “Portugal2020 Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização” (COMPETE2020). This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043and FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/201

iBoccia: a framework to monitor the Boccia gameplay in elderly

The increase of the elderly population has an enormous effect on the health care system of a country, as the rise of this population sets the mood to an exponential growth in assistance and care. Indeed, the inherent costs of this populational class are higher when comparing to the younger classes. Today paradigm focuses on the reduction of these costs by promoting a healthier lifestyle on all classes of the populations. Thus, the concern of a more active lifestyle is present in the elderly population, which has proven to reduce, for example, the risk of coronary problems. The stimulus on physical activity is now higher and it is possible to get several monitoring devices to keep track on the activity that was performed. Following this trend, the present paper presents a hybrid approach that employs the use of wearable devices, the Mio Fuse band and the pandlet, and a non-wearable device, the Kinect camera, to monitor elderly people during a Boccia game scenario. Preliminary tests were performed in laboratory. The results include data collected concerning a main movement that is used during a Boccia gameplay.This article is a result of the project Deus ex machina: NORTE-01-0145- FEDER-000026, supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio