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Web Posted on: August 24, 1998


Research and Development in Assistive Technology in Europe

 

Pier Luigi Emiliani
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Ricerca sulle Onde Elettromagnetiche
Via Panciatichi 64, 50127 Firenze, Italy
Tel: +39-55-431090, fax: +39-55-410893

email: ple@iroe.fi.cnr.it

 

1. Summary

This paper summarises the main research and development activities in assistive technology carried out with the supported by the Commission of the European Union. It also describes the situation unfolding in this field due to the emerging information society. Finally, options for future plans are surveyed.

2. Introduction

In the nineties, interest in and attention to research and development (R&D) activities in the European Assistive Technology field have significantly increased. This has come about partly in response to the considerable demographic changes (i.e. increase in the population of disabled and elderly people) and partly due to changes in socio-political and techno-economic attitudes. R&D activities in this field are now seen as playing a major role in the socio-economic integration of disabled and elderly people.

This new situation has fostered efforts at the national level to analyse social developments from the perspective of people with disabilities, to favour their access to the emerging systems, services and applications of general use, and to conceive uses of technology to overcome obstacles to their socio-economic integration. From these efforts it became evident
that, due to limitation of national assistive technology markets and the need of harmonising solutions in the emerging European society, it was necessary to create a European research and development framework to complement and integrate national activities. In this paper, the description of the schemes envisaged for setting up multidisciplinary and international programmes and a review of the main lines of the research and development activities, necessary to overcome national limitations and to extract a common approach across different cultures, appears more relevant than the description of single achievements in the member states and in European projects, whose detailed report would be anyway impossible in the allowed space.

3. Main recent and ongoing activities

The role of the Commission of the European Union has been instrumental in establishing a framework of action in assistive technology. In particular, several schemes have been followed, in order to promote and sustain a solid level of R&D in this field. Concerted actions are examples of such a scheme, whereby the European Commission coordinates the individual activities carried out in the Member States, encouraging a free exchange of information between partners.

COST (European Cooperation in the Field of Scientific and Technical Research) is an open and flexible framework for R&D cooperation in Europe, also including countries outside the European Union. COST activities involve pre-competitive or basic research, or studies of public utility. Projects are started by groups of nations who agree to cooperate in funding the study of problems of common interest. One action carried out under this scheme (entitled COST 219 "Future Telecommunications and Teleinformatics Facilities for Disabled and Elderly People" from 1986 to 1996 and, currently, with the name COST 219bis "Telecommunication: Access for Disabled and Elderly People") deals with problems related to the integration of disabled people and elderly people in the existing telecommunications community, their use of telecommunications services and applications, and the identification of the possible future impact of foreseen developments. Its main importance, in addition to the research results, is the involvement of many service operators in Europe, thus allowing a seamless transfer of relevant information.

Shared-cost projects are industrial research and development projects funded up to 50% (100% for participating Universities) which constitute the third mechanism under which activities in rehabilitation technology are being carried out. In Telecommunications, the RACE Programme (Research and Technology Development in Telecommunication Technology in Europe) was active for eight years (from 1988 to 1995) and dealt with the introduction of Integrated Broadband Communication (IBC). Some resources were devoted to problems of access encountered by disabled people and elderly people in the emerging telecommunication environment. The basic idea behind the RACE programme's involvement was an attempt to introduce disabled people's requirements and preferences at the start of developing a new technology, instead of adapting it after its embodiment in real products. This approach has also been continued in the presently active ACTS Programme (Advanced Communication Technology and Services), with main emphasis on the impact of mobile terminals and multimedia services and applications in the World Wide Web environment. Activity in rehabilitation technology has been also carried out in the AIM Programme (Advanced Informatics in Medicine). Problems connected to movement assessment and multimedia databases of rehabilitation techniques have been addressed.

Finally the TIDE Programme (formerly "Technology Initiative for Disabled and Elderly People" and, currently, "Telematics for the Integration of Disabled and Elderly People") is completely devoted to research and development in assistive technology. A three year Pilot phase (1991-93) with 22 projects and a three-year "Bridge" phase (1993-97) with 55 projects have been funded, dealing with the following problems: access to technology and related services, including educational and vocational support, teleworking, telecommunication and teleinformation; life at home and remote care, including home systems and services for location and remote support; mobility and transport, including advanced wheelchairs and information on public transportation; control and manipulation, including integrated controls and robotic systems; restoration and enhancement of functions, including training of natural speech or signing, synthetic speech devices, tools for sign language, augmentative communication, hearing and vision enhancement, motor rehabilitation, functional electrical stimulation; horizontal projects to enhance the impact of rehabilitation technology on the quality of life of disabled and elderly people (e.g. studies of uptake and use of technology) and on the European industry and markets (market study). The telematics phase, now active, has funded 53 projects in two different calls. While in the Pilot and Bridge phases most projects addressed mainly the development of specific solutions on assistive devices, the present phase stimulates, in addition to the previously listed activites, the development of telematics services and projects that take into account the design for all approach.

The basic principles underlining the TIDE programme include: a multidisciplinary approach, user focus, technology verification (user evaluation of the project results), and market orientation, requiring that developments be geared toward developing prototype products and services with good industrial potential rather than producing research results only. This last principle is certainly one of the programme's strengths, with its emphasis on real products on the market, which is badly needed. At the same time it runs the risk of eliciting projects that address "easy" problems which are at least partially resolvable by simple adaptations of available technology (technology driven approach), instead of considering the "real", sometimes very complex, problems of disabled people and elderly people. This holds particularly true in Europe, where research in rehabilitation technology is not very evolved and would require a great deal of encouragement in order to reach an acceptable level.

4. The emerging situation

Important technological developments are currently causing the emergence of an information society. Several common activities will be reorganised thanks to this evolution: interpersonal communication, remote working, distance learning, remote shopping, remote banking being only some examples with potentially high impact on the society at large. These changes are mainly caused by the ongoing fusion between information technology and telecommunications, leading to the deployment of integrated, digital and broadband computer networks. These developments can provide new opportunities of social integration to all citizens, including people with disabilities, but at the same time may produce new barriers.

Concurrently with the deployment of new technology, more emphasis is given to the idea that citizens should have access to all facilities or services in society. Therefore, solutions have to be found to the problems that users could encounter in utilising emerging services and applications. One very interesting approach is based on the "design for all" or "universal design" principle, according to which the needs, capabilities and preferences of all potential users should be taken into account during the design and development of new products, such as telecommunication services. This approach dates back many years, born from architects' efforts to make buildings and open spaces accessible to everyone (including people using wheelchairs or those with other mobility problems). In addition to guidelines for the adaptation of existing buildings, guidelines for producing a physical environment accessible by everyone have been made available. However, the information society consequences are much less developed. With complex systems such as those emerging in the information society, it is not possible to support the idea of single systems and services that are good for all potential users. The risk is to produce products that are not good enough for anyone. Therefore, more sophisticated concepts have to be used, by introducing, for example, enough flexibility in the products to allow a different automatic configuration for the various user groups. This amounts to analysing the functions that need to be carried out with the system, service and application, and then implementing them differently for the various users. Unfortunately, commercial solutions to facilitate the above approach are not available. Few preliminary demonstrations have been carried out so far in limited field (e.g. human-to-terminal interfaces).

5. Future strategies

The abovementioned arguments emphasise both a proactive approach to studying integration problems faced by people with disabilities and elderly people in the information society, as well as the need to invest resources in important and challenging problems not accessible to the presently available technology. Based on those considerations, a structuring of activity for the future emerges along four main lines.

The first line aims to maximise advantages of societal changes by favouring technological development that is compatible with the capabilities of possible users (design for all and adaptations of mainstream technology). It is now commonly assumed that in society everything produced should be accessible to all potential users. This general principle has to be substantiated with the demonstration that (i) this is possible and (ii) this is economically viable. Four main activities are necessary in this line: development of examples based on the "design for all" approach, that is of products, services and applications that i) are truly usable by most of the potential users, ii) are easily adaptable to different users (e.g. adapting their interfaces), iii) have standardised interfaces to be compatible with special products (e.g. special interaction devices) for people with disabilities; pilot demonstrations of the above developments; cost/performances analyses; transfer of user-centred information to policy makers and mainstream information and telecommunication industries. This should address all relevant access of equipment, services and applications, including physical accessibility of equipment and products, accessibility of user interfaces and accessibility of the information content, in all the application environments (house, work, education, leisure).

There are problems that are too serious to be resolved with a better design of equipment, services and applications of general use or the involved costs are too high. In those cases, assistive technology, definable as special applications of technology on behalf of people with disabilities or older people, can address a variety of different impairments such as visual, hearing, mobility and cognitive impairments. Four levels of activity can be identified (some examples of possible research activities are reported for each level): replacing or enhancing impaired functions (personal devices for communication, mobility, transportation, manipulation, sensory support; special interface equipment and human-computer interfaces; media transformation devices and services); adapting the environments (integrated systems spanning both the smart house and the smart neighbourhood; tools for the analysis and adaptation of the home, office, education, social environment; adaptation of transportation); supporting people directly in the different environments (tele-assistance and tele-support to older people and disabled people; co-operative work; remote education and training; alarm systems; travel information systems); supporting carers to reduce costs involved in daily tasks of caring (social support and social intervention networks).

Long-term research is called for in several areas in order to explore new possibilities and create the knowledge and understanding required to underpin future products and services. The following are examples of possible activities: smart sensory implants/replacements/prostheses, including the development of new materials; advanced robotic systems (manipulation and exploration of the environment); adaptable and adaptive human-machine interfaces; intelligent human-machine interfaces; virtual environments; intelligent environments; transduction technology; modelling and tracking user characteristics.

Technical research and development activities need support of accompanying measures in order to ensure that the developed results used in society are of practical relevance to the actual user groups. They include: actions to improve service and product delivery; identification of legal and regulatory issues; assessment of behavioural issues; awareness and information dissemination; socio-economic studies; technology transfer; support for the operation of key market driving forces; links to other EU policies, programmes and initiatives

6. Conclusions

Efforts to promote the development of assistive technology in Europe have been briefly summarised. Although some interesting results have been obtained, the important changes foreseen in society require an evolution of the approaches to be used, as outlined in the final part of the paper.



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