Enabling User-centered Design and Evaluation to Increase Acceptance of Wearable Robotic Assistive Technologies
Part 11: User Participation
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Date
2019-07-17
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Conference Paper
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yes
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Abstract
Background: With wearable, lightweight and more affordable robotics on the rise, new opportunities for daily life assistance for people with neuromuscular disorders become available. However, the successful application of a device stands and falls with the respective user experience and technology acceptance. Unfortunately, the majority of promising research prototypes underestimate these obstacles or fail to consider the human factors confounding assistive technology usage. User-centered design (UCD) of assistive technologies has shown to remarkably increase user experience. An intensified target population interaction with early prototypes can potentially provide valuable insights to overcome the gap between in-lab testing and clinical or home application. However, understanding and analyzing user experience is not yet sufficiently established, lacking clear guidelines and standardized measures. This generates difficulties to define requirements and assess device performance, especially in the emerging area of wearable robotics. There is a need to simplify and enable the user-centered evaluation and design of assistive technologies to successfully tackle the prominent acceptance limitations.
Method: We propose a UCD framework for wearable robotic assistive technologies, addressing three specific aspects currently limiting the success of UCD design processes: (i) planning and preparation, (ii) context and needs assessment and (iii) user testing and evaluation. To understand the current limitations of UCD, surveys are being conducted with development experts, health care professionals, caregivers as well as end-users and their next of kin. With this collection and repository of knowledge, an improved understanding and assessment of user needs in the context of device usage can be proposed. Through contextualization, we define required stakeholder involvement milestones during development and achieve a more targeted selection of user experience measures. A UCD toolbox selecting and proposing standardized outcome measures from an online database is currently being established, with the aim to define comparable evaluation protocols with appropriate measures fitting the context of use. A preliminary version of the UCD framework was tested to evaluate and redesign the physical human-robot interface of the VariLeg powered lower limb exoskeleton, involving two experienced paraplegic users.
Key results: The UCD framework under development aims to provide standardized, context-specific outcome measures to (a) assess end-user experiences (b) identify key limitations and (c) provide more generalizable usability results when testing wearable robotic assistive technologies. The enhanced feedback from the evaluation phase can be used to further refine the context and needs assessment and initiate the next design cycle. In our research with the VariLeg gait exoskeleton, this has shown to facilitate target population involvement and motivated the iterative design of individual interface components, leading to an increase of 45% in the perceived usability, measured by the System Usability Scale (SUS).
Conclusion: Acceptance limitations of novel assistive technologies are aimed to be tackled with a simplified UCD approach. Maximizing user experience relative to the context of use can help to close the gap between in-lab testing of research prototypes and real-life application in daily usage. This can not only increase development efficiency but, more importantly, increase the quality of life of those in need of technological support.
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published
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Journal / series
Volume
31 (3)
Pages / Article No.
191 - 192
Publisher
IOS Press
Event
15th international Association of Advancement in Assistive Technology Europe Conference: Global Challenges in Assistive Technology: Research, Policy & Practice (AAATE 2019)
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03827 - Gassert, Roger / Gassert, Roger
Notes
Conference lecture held on August 28, 2019