Advanced Interdisciplinary Human Research In Assistive Technology for Elderly Persons and Persons with Disabilities

摘要

In the field of assistive products, it is necessary to distinguish orphan products that are designed especially for a particular disability and accessible-designed products, sometimes called universal-design products, inclusive-design products or design-for-all products (kyoyo-hin in Japanese). A large market is assumed for accessible-designed products, while a market with a limited scale exists for orphan products. The orphan products must be adapted to impairments of an individual, so mass production is not possible. Most assistive products lie in between these two extremes and much attention should be paid to where the product is positioned in the research and development strategy.