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- Evaluation of distinct input methods of an intelligent wheelchair in simulated and real environments: a performance and usability studyPublication . Faria, Brigida Monica; Vasconcelos, Sérgio; Reis, Luís Paulo; Lau, NunoThis paper focuses on evaluating the usability of an Intelligent Wheelchair (IW) in both real and simulated environments. The wheelchair is controlled at a high-level by a flexible multimodal interface, using voice commands, facial expressions, head movements and joystick as its main inputs. A Quasi-experimental design was applied including a deterministic sample with a questionnaire that enabled to apply the System Usability Scale. The subjects were divided in two independent samples: 46 individuals performing the experiment with an Intelligent Wheelchair in a simulated environment (28 using different commands in a sequential way and 18 with the liberty to choose the command); 12 individuals performing the experiment with a real IW. The main conclusion achieved by this study is that the usability of the Intelligent Wheelchair in a real environment is higher than in the simulated environment. However there were not statistical evidences to affirm that there are differences between the real and simulated wheelchairs in terms of safety and control. Also, most of users considered the multimodal way of driving the wheelchair very practical and satisfactory. Thus, it may be concluded that the multimodal interfaces enables very easy and safe control of the IW both in simulated and real environments.
- Invited paper: multimodal interface for an intelligent wheelchairPublication . Reis, Luís Paulo; Faria, Brigida Monica; Vasconcelos, Sérgio; Lau, NunoSince the demographics of population, with respect to age, are continuously changing, politicians and scientists start to pay more attention to the needs of senior individuals. Additionally, the well-being and needs of disabled individuals are also becoming highly valued in the political and entrepreneurial society. Intelligent wheelchairs are adapted electric wheelchairs with environmental perception, semi-autonomous behaviour and flexible human-machine-interaction. This paper presents the specification and development of a user-friendly multimodal interface, as a component of the IntellWheels Platform project. The developed prototype combines several input modules, allowing the control of the wheelchair through flexible user defined input sequences of distinct types (speech, facial expressions, head movements and joystick). To validate the effectiveness of the prototype, two experiments were performed with a number of individuals who tested the system firstly by driving a simulated wheelchair in a virtual environment. The second experiment was performed using the real IntellWheels wheelchair prototype. The results achieved proved that the multimodal interface may be successfully used by people, due to the interaction flexibility it provides.
- User modeling and command language adapted for driving an intelligent wheelchairPublication . Faria, Brígida Mónica; Reis, Luís Paulo; Lau, NunoThe importance and concern given to the autonomy and independence of elderly people and patients suffering from some kind of disability has been growing significantly in the last few decades. Intelligent wheelchairs (IW) are technologies that can increase the autonomy and independence of this kind of population and are nowadays a very active research area. This paper presents a Data Analysis System (DAS) that provides an adapted command language to an user of the IW. This command language is a set of input sequences that can be created using inputs from an input device or a combination of the inputs available in a multimodal interface. The results show that there are statistical evidences to affirm that the mean of the evaluation of the DAS is higher than the mean of the evaluation of the command language recommend by the health specialist (p value = 0.002) with a sample of 11 cerebral palsy users. This work demonstrates that it is possible to adapt an intelligent wheelchair interface to the user even when the users present heterogeneous and severe physical constraints.
- Multimodal interaction robotic devices in a simulated environmentPublication . Faria, Brígida Mónica; Dias, Daniel; Reis, Luís PauloEste trabalho teve como principal objetivo o desenvolvimento de uma plataforma de interação multimodal de dispositivos robóticos em ambiente simulado. Foi desenvolvido e implementado um sistema, no qual é possível interagir com uma Cadeira de Rodas Inteligente (CRI) de forma a testar o controlo da condução deste robot através de uma interface multimodal adaptável ao utilizador. Para além disso, foi implementado e testado um robot que representa uma rampa de arremessos do desporto Paralímpico “Boccia”. Esta Rampa Robótica Inteligente (RRI) permitirá que os praticantes portadores das mais diversas patologias físicas e psicológicas, possam praticar este desporto de uma forma mais autónoma. Terá maior enfâse sobre a categoria BC3, na qual os seus praticantes têm um nível de dependência muito elevada, tendo estes a necessidade de recorrer ao seu treinador e a uma plataforma de lançamento (rampa) para poderem jogar o desporto.
- Intelligent wheelchair driving: bridging the gap between virtual and real intelligent wheelchairsPublication . Faria, Brígida Mónica; Reis, Luís Paulo; Lau, Nuno; Moreira, António Paulo; Petry, Marcelo; Ferreira, Luís MiguelWheelchairs are important locomotion devices for handicapped and senior people. With the increase in the number of senior citizens and the increment of people bearing physical deficiencies, there is a growing demand for safer and more comfortable wheelchairs. So the new Intelligent Wheelchair (IW) concept was introduced. Like many other robotic systems, the main capabilities of an intelligent wheelchair should be: autonomous navigation with safety, flexibility and capability of avoiding obstacles; intelligent interface with the user; communication with other devices. In order to achieve these capabilities a good testbed is needed on which trials and users’ training may be safely conducted. This paper presents an extensible virtual environment simulator of an intelligent wheelchair to fulfill that purpose. The simulator combines the main features of robotic simulators with those built for training and evaluation of prospective wheelchair users. Experiments with the real prototype allowed having results and information to model the virtual intelligent wheelchair. Several experiments with real users of electric wheelchairs (suffering from cerebral palsy) and potential users of an intelligent wheelchair were performed. The System Usability Score allowed having the perception of the users in terms of the usability of the IW in the virtual environment. The mean score was 72 indicating a satisfactory level of the usability. It was possible to conclude with the experiments that the virtual intelligent wheelchair and environment are usable instruments to test and train potential users.