an article by Tristan Parker for E-Access Bulletin
The phrase ‘smart homes’ may bring to mind images from science fiction, and thoughts of robots vacuuming and cooking for their human masters, but the reality is far simpler and within reach – and it could save the NHS and social care services millions of pounds per year.
Smart home technology is, in fact, already being used (the Amazon Echo, for example) and will only keep on growing in popularity. But its use and the types of technologies need to be assessed and accelerated in order to address a crucial and often-overlooked issue: care for the elderly.
A report from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, ‘Healthy Homes: Accommodating an Ageing Population’ (PDF 27pp), explores how home technology can benefit older people and allow them to stay healthy and independent, remaining in their homes for longer and therefore taking pressure off care services.
Continue reading
Showing posts with label assistive_technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label assistive_technology. Show all posts
Tuesday, 14 August 2018
Friday, 24 November 2017
Blind users' assistive technology based on the Android platform
an article by Jamal Al-Nabulsi (The Hashemite University, Jordan; Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Jordan), Jumana Ma'touq (Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany), Emad E. Abdallah (The Hashemite University, Jordan) and Tarek Haloubi and Ali Manasra (Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Jordan) published in International Journal of Innovative Computing and Applications Volume 8 Number 3
Abstract
Because of the wide use of smartphones in our daily activities, a wide range of mobile applications have been developed to serve as assistive technologies. However, there is a lack of applications in the Arabic language to assist disabled people.
The main aim of this paper is to build a simple yet accurate Arabic language application that is capable of helping blind users in real-time.
In the proposed technology, the blind user captures a photo and records his/her voice inquiry. The query is instantly sent with the captured photo to a set of volunteers. The volunteers answer the blind user enquiries and send the answers back.
Fifteen visually impaired persons and ten volunteers were used in the experimental testing. The scenarios were carefully created based on realistic situations. The subjects were then asked to answer a questionnaire to test if their queries were answered effectively and efficiently.
The early results are promising because all blind users found the proposed technology useful and 80% of them wanted to use it on a daily basis. In addition, all volunteers found the application easy to use with clear instructions and 80% of them were excited about using it to assist blind users.
Abstract
Because of the wide use of smartphones in our daily activities, a wide range of mobile applications have been developed to serve as assistive technologies. However, there is a lack of applications in the Arabic language to assist disabled people.
The main aim of this paper is to build a simple yet accurate Arabic language application that is capable of helping blind users in real-time.
In the proposed technology, the blind user captures a photo and records his/her voice inquiry. The query is instantly sent with the captured photo to a set of volunteers. The volunteers answer the blind user enquiries and send the answers back.
Fifteen visually impaired persons and ten volunteers were used in the experimental testing. The scenarios were carefully created based on realistic situations. The subjects were then asked to answer a questionnaire to test if their queries were answered effectively and efficiently.
The early results are promising because all blind users found the proposed technology useful and 80% of them wanted to use it on a daily basis. In addition, all volunteers found the application easy to use with clear instructions and 80% of them were excited about using it to assist blind users.
Monday, 8 October 2012
Motion control of walking assistant robot based on comfort
an article by Aolin Tang and Qixin Cao (Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China) published in Industrial Robot: An International Journal volume 39 Issue 6 (2012)
Abstract
Purpose
A walking assistant robot can help elderly people walk around independently, which could improve the life quality of the elderly and benefit our ageing society. Ensuring the elderly person’s walking comfort with such a robot is very important. At present, the majority of walking assistant robot research does not focus on this field. The purpose of this paper is to examine the requirements of comfortable walking and outline the design of a motion control algorithm for a walking assistant robot, Walkmate III, based on comfort.
Design/methodology/approach
During walking, the walking assistant robot should be able to capture the intent of user, guide the user and move at the same pace as the user. Usually, force or haptic interface is used to detect the user’s walking intention. The motion control system then transforms the forces applied by the user into the robot’s motion. By surveying the elderly people at a nursing home, the authors find that this transformation is important to the walking comfortableness and should be carefully designed. In this paper, the model of walking assisting process with such kind of walking assistant robot is derived at first. Based on this model, a new motion control algorithm is then designed.
Findings
The elderly hoped that, in all topographic conditions, only small forces were needed to drive the walker during walking. Also, good manoeuvrability was also very important for a walker, to offer the user comfort, which meant the walking assistant robot should be able to respond to the input forces quickly and precisely. Currently widely-used motion control algorithms cannot satisfy all those requirements. In this paper, a new motion control algorithm is proposed, which can get a fast and precise response to the input forces and the input forces needed to drive the robot are kept at a preferred small level, so that the user will not feel tired during walking. Furthermore, by modifying, force feedback can be realised to improve the comfortableness of walking.
Practical implications
The availability of walking assistant robot with improved walking comfortableness might encourage a wider adoption of robotics in our daily life. It could also benefit our ageing society by improving the life quality of the elderly and reducing the pressure deriving from nursing labour shortages.
Originality/value
This paper is of value to engineers and researchers developing walking assistant robots for the elderly people.
And possibly to advisers working with disabled people. It is not only the ageing population that has difficulty with walking!
Abstract
Purpose
A walking assistant robot can help elderly people walk around independently, which could improve the life quality of the elderly and benefit our ageing society. Ensuring the elderly person’s walking comfort with such a robot is very important. At present, the majority of walking assistant robot research does not focus on this field. The purpose of this paper is to examine the requirements of comfortable walking and outline the design of a motion control algorithm for a walking assistant robot, Walkmate III, based on comfort.
Design/methodology/approach
During walking, the walking assistant robot should be able to capture the intent of user, guide the user and move at the same pace as the user. Usually, force or haptic interface is used to detect the user’s walking intention. The motion control system then transforms the forces applied by the user into the robot’s motion. By surveying the elderly people at a nursing home, the authors find that this transformation is important to the walking comfortableness and should be carefully designed. In this paper, the model of walking assisting process with such kind of walking assistant robot is derived at first. Based on this model, a new motion control algorithm is then designed.
Findings
The elderly hoped that, in all topographic conditions, only small forces were needed to drive the walker during walking. Also, good manoeuvrability was also very important for a walker, to offer the user comfort, which meant the walking assistant robot should be able to respond to the input forces quickly and precisely. Currently widely-used motion control algorithms cannot satisfy all those requirements. In this paper, a new motion control algorithm is proposed, which can get a fast and precise response to the input forces and the input forces needed to drive the robot are kept at a preferred small level, so that the user will not feel tired during walking. Furthermore, by modifying, force feedback can be realised to improve the comfortableness of walking.
Practical implications
The availability of walking assistant robot with improved walking comfortableness might encourage a wider adoption of robotics in our daily life. It could also benefit our ageing society by improving the life quality of the elderly and reducing the pressure deriving from nursing labour shortages.
Originality/value
This paper is of value to engineers and researchers developing walking assistant robots for the elderly people.
And possibly to advisers working with disabled people. It is not only the ageing population that has difficulty with walking!
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