Development of a general purpose computer-based platform to provide functional assistance to people with severe motor disabilities

摘要

Research and development into a generic assistive platform, which can accommodate a varietyudof patients suffering from a wide range of motor disabilities is described. Methodologiesudwere established, whereby the design could be made sufficiently flexible, such that it couldudbe programmed to suit these people in terms of their needs and level of motor disability.udThis needed to be achieved without redesigning the system for each person.udSuitable sensors were chosen to sense the residual motor function of the disabled individual,udwhile being non-invasive and safe for use. These sensors included a dual-axis accelerometerud(tilt switch), a 6-key touch sensor and a SCATIR switch (blink/wink sensor). The placementudof the sensors, for the purpose of this study, were restricted to sensing arm (dual-axis accelerometer)udor finger movements (touch sensors), head and neck movements (accelerometer)udand blink/wink and/or eye-brow movements (SCATIR switch). These input devicesudwere used to control a variety of different output functions, as required by the user, whileudbeing non-invasive and safe for use.udAfter ethics approval was obtained, volunteers with various motor disabilities were subsequentlyudinvited to test the system and thereafter requested to answer a series of questionsudregarding the performance and potential usefulness of the system. The input sensors wereudfound to be comfortable and easy to use, while performing predictably and with very littleudto no fatigue experienced. The system performed as expected and accepted all of the inputudsensors attached to it, while repeating specific tasks multiple times. It was also establishedudthat the system was customisable in terms of providing a specific output for a specific andudvoluntary input. The system could be improved by further compacting and simplifyingudthe design and operation, while using wireless sensors were necessary. It was thereafterudconcluded that the system, in general, was capable of satisfying the various users’ diverseudrequirements, thereby achieving the required objectives.