Design of an Integrated Robotic Reminder System for People with Dementia

Several useful technologies to help people with dementia already exist. Robotic pets, for example, have been shown to alleviate negative symptoms associated with dementia. Most robotic pets, however, only have pet-like functionality. This is useful on its own, but adding additional care functionality would be helpful. A different useful tool for...

InsightSpace: Broadening Inclusive Education Horizons for Vision Impairment

This thesis explores the challenges faced by students with vision impairment in accessing visual educational content, with the goal of designing an inclusive tool to enhance their learning experience. Adopting a human-centered design approach backed with value-sensitive design, the research methodology combined qualitative and quantitative...

Assisting Experts in Image Description for Visually Impaired People

There are an estimated 253 million blind and visually impaired people in the world. To grant them access to text publications that contain images, experts are employed to write image descriptions. There is both a societal and a legislative pressure to supply image descriptions to all new and archived publications within a number of years, yet...

Bicycle balance assist system reduces roll and steering motion for young and older bicyclists during real-life safety challenges

Bicycles are more difficult to control at low speeds due to the vehicle’s unstable low-speed dynamics. This issue might be exacerbated by factors such as aging, disturbances, and multi-tasking. To address this issue, we developed a prototype ‘balance assist system’ with Royal Dutch Gazelle and Bosch eBike Systems at Delft University of...

The effects of a steer assist system on bicycle postural control in real-life safety challenges

With aging, the sensory, motor, and central nervous system deficiencies lead to inadequate bicycle postural control in older cyclists. Similarly, variety in riding skills leads to different bicycle postural control strategies. Cycling seems to be an automated task but keeping the bicycle stable at low speed, pedaling, and steering requires...

Integrating shape memory materials in haptic technology as an aid for the visually impaired

There are approximately 285 million people worldwide living with a visual impairment and the rate of acquired blindness is expected to continue increasing. Assistive technology for them is progressively being developed in order to enable independent living. For the blind and visually impaired, the tactile sense is the primary source of...

A digital platform for facilitating personalized dementia care in nursing homes: Formative evaluation study

Background: Care personalization is key to the well-being of people with dementia according to person-centered care. With the development of the internet of things, a large quantity of personal data can be collected securely and reliably, which has the potential to facilitate care personalization for people with dementia. Yet, there are...

Developing a go to market strategy for an assistive technology product

The number of visually impaired cases have been exponentially rising in recent time; there are 30Mil visually impaired people in Europe . This has lead to the creation of a big industry of assistive technology devices for the visually impaired community. Envision, a start-up developing artificial intelligence products for the visual impaired,...

The design and modelling of spelling paradigms for assistive devices using binary control signals

Patients suffering from diseases affecting verbal communication can make use of assistive devices to improve communication. Some severely disabled patients can only produce yes-or-no responses to communicate. These responses can be created through a physical switch, eye blink, or a 'mental' click created by brain activity. The yes-or-no...

Designing a positive white cane: A future vision and design approach

Context & case You are reading the report for a master’s graduation project conducted at Delft University of Technology. This project is chaired by prof. dr. ir. Pieter Desmet and coached by dr. Rebecca Price. The project was initiated by Margot Scheltema, an influential Dutch commissioner with multiple companies. She initiated this project...

A novel design for decoupling the energy storage and return in passive ankle foot prostheses: A redesign of the VSPA foot

Conventional passive prosthetic feet cannot provide net positive mechanical energy, causing a strong reduction in push-off work. This decrease the comfortable walking speed and increases the metabolic cost of walking in amputees, as more than half of the positive work performed during able-bodied gait is done during the powered plantar flexion...

Electronic assistive technology for community-dwelling solo-living older adults: A systematic review

The proportion of older adults who live alone in single households is growing continuously. In the care of these solo-living older adults, electronic assistive technology (EAT) can play an important role. The objective of this review is to investigate the effects of EAT on the wellbeing of community-dwelling older adults living alone in...

Considering patient safety in autonomous e-mental health systems - Detecting risk situations and referring patients back to human care

Background: Digital health interventions can fill gaps in mental healthcare provision. However, autonomous e-mental health (AEMH) systems also present challenges for effective risk management. To balance autonomy and safety, AEMH systems need to detect risk situations and act on these appropriately. One option is sending automatic alerts to...

Design for Usher and beyond

Assignment. The Usher Syndrome is a hereditary disorder, where people's sight and hearing degenerates over time. As a result, being socially involved with other people can be challenging, especially in rooms that are low-lit and that include background noise. The project was initiated to help people with Usher Syndrome to still be able to...

Future mobility in an ageing society: Where are we heading?

The demographic profile of UK society is changing as people live longer. Maintaining the wellbeing and quality of life of an ageing society is set to be extremely challenging. To what extent can the state afford to meet a potentially burgeoning demand for social care? What expectations will be placed upon informal carers to enable the system to...

The Role of Subjective Well-Being in Co-Designing Open-Design Assistive Devices; design case study

In this paper we explore the role of subjective well-being within the process of making together a personalized assistive device. Through a process of social product adaptation, assistive artifacts become part of occupational therapy and co-evolve with clients. Personal digital fabrication tools enable small user groups to make and share their...

The role of subjective well-being in co-designing open-design assistive devices

In this paper we explore the role of subjective well-being within the process of making together a personalized assistive device. Through a process of social product adaptation, assistive artifacts become part of occupational therapy and co-evolve with clients. Personal digital fabrication tools enable small user groups to make and share...

Postboard: Free-form tangible messaging for people with aphasia (and other people)

In this paper we report the design of a communication system for people with aphasia. It consists of pairs of physical whiteboards that are connected over the internet. This allows users to combine any personal language skills with visuals and already existing materials at hand. The design has been based on feedback and evaluation sessions with...