Phase I. AIDE system specifications

Involving target end users in research and development (R&D) from the very beginning is critical to ensure development of devices and services that are close to the market and most likely to be adopted and used. In this phase, it is the ambition of the consortium to use quantitative tools for example the EQ5D standardized measure of health outcome (http://www.euroqol.org/home.html) or Psychosocial Impact of Assistive Devices.

Phase I is mainly associated with WP2 led by UMH in close collaboration with CF. CF will be fo

cused on assessing the needs, expectations and requirements of endEusers, defining appropriate scenarios and managing ethical values. UMH will be focused on translating values into a concept design and defining the general and specific requirements as well as expected performance objectives for all systems, subEsystems, interactions and components of the AIDE system. In addition, it is noticeable that Task 2.5 in WP2 will be active from month 6 to the end  of  the  project  and  focus  on  evaluations  and  usability  tests,  ergonomics,  technology acceptance and user experience with mock-ups and prototypes of the system. All relevant components will be tested with end-user groups at partnering institutions in  the  UK  and Spain. This task is of paramount importance to safeguard usability, ergonomics and user experience and to maximise technology acceptance later in the process.

The expected outcomes of this phase will be: 1) the overall characterization  of  the  AIDE system and technical specifications of its individual components; 2) the definition of ethical guidelines for active user involvement in design processes and requirements for security and reliability issues; 3) the definition of the “project quality assurance  plan”;  and  4)  the specification methodologies and scope of testing, test procedures, guidelines and the expected results for successful validations and iterations in the R&D activities with specific focus on usability and ergonomics.

Phase II. Modular architecture for AIDE system

This phase will be focused on development of a modular hardware and software architecture supporting the development of the multi-modal interface. This phase comprises WP3 led by UCBM. A modular architecture will be developed based on the results of WP2. It aims to fulfil the following criteria: 1) it should be reliable, effective, valid, timely and complete; 2) it should ensure that data can be exchanged efficiently and effectively, through a standardised c

ommunication protocol; and 3) it  should  allow  resizing  and  adapting  the  multimodal interface on the basis of the modules that are required in a specific  application  scenario and/or for specific user needs.

In this phase, the necessary hardware components to the implementation of an integrative hardware platform consisting of wearable and wireless components allowing  the  user  to move freely in daily life environments will be developed, adapted and/or acquired. It should be noted that the integration of the already available robotic exoskeleton with a wheelchair will performed in this phase. This is a critical step to complete the whole multi-modal interface. However, the risk of this task is low as the system is now fixed  to  an  external support, which only has a weight-compensation  system and it will  be feasible  to shift  such support from the depicted arrangement into one included in the wheelchair structure.

The main expected outcomes of this phase will be the preparation of the modular architecture of the AIDE system.

Phase III. Iterative development of enabling technologies

This phase will be focused on the development of enabling technologies for the AIDE system:

1)  multimodal sensory processing for estimation of user’s intention and affective state (WP4 led by UPV); 2) monitoring and understanding user behaviour and context factors (WP5 led by EKUT) ; and 3) developing a shared control system to contextualize the user’s behaviour, intentions and affective state in the current environment and activity in order to support him/her in the control of an external applications  and/or  devices  (WP6  led  by  SSSA).  The WPs involved in this phase (WP4, WP5 and WP6) will run in parallel and the development process will be iterative testing of usability, ergonomics, technology acceptance and user experience with mockEups and prototypes of the system components in  target  end-users and redesigning them if necessary.

The clinical validation of the AIDE prototype will be performed in the UK (CF) with 5-10 users with different pathologies who belong to the aforementioned groups of users with different residual capabilities. The participants will be selected to fit with the inclusion criteria defined in Task 8.1 having at least one participant in each of the proposed groups. The validation activities will be conducted during the last 6 months of the project to evaluate: 1) the performance, functionality, reliability, effectively of the AIDE system using the validation methodologies defined in WP2; and 2) the acceptability and usability of the AIDE system for assisting disabled people in different daily tasks.

Phase V. High Impact dissemination and exploitation

This phase will be devoted to maximize the impact of the project results during the project and after the project.  WP9 will be  focused  on  this  issue  through  two  complementary activities:

1. Dissemination  and   communication  activities  will  be  targeted   at  key  stakeholders (such as public authorities, patient associations, etc.) and at the general public at large.
2. Exploitation activities will be mainly tailored to develop an ecosystem of stakeholders to allow the proper marketing of the project results.

Scientific dissemination activities will be led by UMH and UCBM in close collaboration with all consortium partners. UMH and UCBM have strong expertise in the scientific dissemination of project results in journals, conferences and books, while some members of their teams serve or have served as General Chairs, Program Chairs, Editor in Chief in top level conferences and scientific  journals.

ZED and BJ Adaptaciones will lead general  public  dissemination  and  exploitation  activities. ZED is a large corporate group with presence in 63 countries having more than 400 million users and will use its commercial network to disseminate the results of the  project  to  the general public and to key stakeholders.

Regarding exploitation activities, ZED is particularly interested in  the  project  results regarding high innovat

ive multimodal interfaces for mobile devices and BJ Adaptaciones is devoted to manufacture and commercialization of innovative products for people with disabilities. Moreover, there is as task (Task 9.7) in WP9 devoted to the  involvement  of leading European companies with a strong interest in the technologies developed within the AIDE project aiming at maximizing the outcome of the exploitation activities even beyond the consortium  boundaries.

WP1 and WP9 (in yellow) run all along the project lifetime in parallel to the other WPs in order to ensure: i) the efficient management of the project; and ii) to maximise the impact of the project through the dissemination and exploitation of project results.