ABSTRACT
As the older population increases, the number of persons living with dementia (PWD) will increase as well. Yet, at the same time, there are fewer health care professionals per care recipient. To address the rising demand on healthcare professionals and informal care partners of PWD, socially assistive robots (SARs) can potentially facilitate care provision. It is crucial to understand the divergent tasks of these two caregiver groups so that the SAR's intervention can meet each group's needs. This qualitative study investigated and compared both caregiver groups' acceptance of a SAR. Six use cases involving a SAR (NAO, SoftBank) were demonstrated to both caregiver groups (N=20 persons). Both groups expressed willingness to adopt such technology and found that it could be useful in dementia care. However, participants' perceptions varied by task. Results indicate that healthcare professionals focused more on the assistive aspects, whereas care partners focused more on the social aspects of the SAR.
ABSTRACT
We present the development of a prototype novel low-power, inexpensive stability control system for manual wheelchairs. Manual wheelchairs, while providing the ability to maneuver in relatively small indoor spaces, have a high center of gravity making them prone to tipping. Additionally, they can easily slide on sloped surfaces and can even spin and tip when attempting to turn or brake too quickly. When used on ramps and in outdoor environments where the surface is rarely perfectly flat (slopes greater than 1â¶20 (5%) are common), wheelchair users can easily encounter potentially dangerous situations. The design and evaluation of an accident prevention system for independent manual wheelchair users that increases independence by enabling mobility with greater confidence and safety is described. The system does not limit a wheelchair user's ability to manually brake, rather, if the system detects that the wheelchair is out of control, braking force will be added by the system to either one or both wheels. The prototype utilized inexpensive bicycle technologies for the wheel brake and electrical power generator assemblies. Custom servos were designed along with custom electronics and firmware in the prototype to evaluate performance. The goal of the project was to derive specifications for a control and actuation system that utilizes inexpensive bicycle components in this cost-sensitive application. The design is detailed and the final specifications provided.
Subject(s)
Mechanical Phenomena , Wheelchairs , Equipment Design , Equipment Safety , Feasibility Studies , Humans , MotionABSTRACT
Following a critical illness, technology-dependent children on chronic ventilator support require specialized care to facilitate recovery and rehabilitation that minimally impedes social and psychological development. Intervention strategies have been confounded by the need for frequent assessment via physical exam in a relatively immobile patient population. The availability of technology that enables effective, timely, and reliable information transfer between the homecare providers and the attending pulmonologist is likely to decrease the need for transport and hospitalization, and provide a dramatically increased level of comfort for care givers in the home and ultimately the children. A Pulmonetic Systems LTV 1200 ventilator was enabled with a wireless cellular interface to make its settings and performance data real-time accessible over a secure wireless Internet connection. A complete web-browser ventilator interface program was specified, coded, and tested. The live web interface was used to support a formal survey of pediatric pulmonologists to help gauge the potential medical utility of the new remote interface to the ventilator. The survey results were overwhelmingly supportive of the concept, and the pulmonologists listed many varied ways that the data could have utility in their patient populations.