Pha<\/b>s<\/b>e I. AIDE system specifications<\/b><\/p>\n
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<\/a>:\/\/www.euroqol.org\/home.html) <\/a>or Psychosocial Impact of Assistive Devices.<\/p>\n Phase I is mainly associated with W<\/b>P<\/b>2 <\/b>led by UMH in close collaboration with CF. CF will be fo<\/p>\n 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 \u00a0of \u00a0the \u00a0project \u00a0and \u00a0focus \u00a0on \u00a0evaluations \u00a0and \u00a0usability \u00a0tests, \u00a0ergonomics, \u00a0technology 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 \u00a0the \u00a0UK \u00a0and Spain. This task is of paramount importance to safeguard usability, ergonomics and user experience and to maximise technology acceptance later in the process.<\/p>\n The expected outcomes of this phase will be: 1) the overall characterization \u00a0of \u00a0the \u00a0AIDE 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 \u201cproject quality assurance \u00a0plan\u201d; \u00a0and \u00a04) \u00a0the 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.<\/p>\n Pha<\/b>se II. Modular architecture for AIDE system<\/b><\/p>\n 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 W<\/b>P<\/b>3 <\/b>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<\/p>\n ommunication protocol; and 3) it \u00a0should \u00a0allow \u00a0resizing \u00a0and \u00a0adapting \u00a0the \u00a0multimodal interface on the basis of the modules that are required in a specific \u00a0application \u00a0scenario and\/or for specific user needs.<\/p>\n In this phase, the necessary hardware components to the implementation of an integrative hardware platform consisting of wearable and wireless components allowing \u00a0the \u00a0user \u00a0to 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 \u00a0to \u00a0an \u00a0external support, which only has a weight-compensation\u00a0 system and it will\u00a0 be feasible\u00a0 to shift\u00a0 such support from the depicted arrangement into one included in the wheelchair structure.<\/p>\n The main expected outcomes of this phase will be the preparation of the modular architecture of the AIDE system.<\/p>\n Pha<\/b>se III. Iterative development of enabling technologies<\/b><\/p>\n This phase will be focused on the development of enabling technologies for the AIDE system:<\/p>\n 1)\u00a0 multimodal sensory processing for estimation of user\u2019s intention and affective state (W<\/b>P<\/b>4 <\/b>led by UPV); 2) monitoring and understanding user behaviour and context factors (W<\/b>P<\/b>5 <\/b>led by EKUT) ; and 3) developing a shared control system to contextualize the user\u2019s behaviour, intentions and affective state in the current environment and activity in order to support him\/her in the control of an external applications \u00a0and\/or \u00a0devices \u00a0(W<\/b>P<\/b>6 \u00a0<\/b>led \u00a0by \u00a0SSSA). \u00a0The WPs involved in this phase (W<\/b>P4<\/b>, W<\/b>P<\/b>5 <\/b>and W<\/b>P6<\/b>) 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 \u00a0target \u00a0end-users and redesigning them if necessary.<\/p>\n Pha<\/b>se IV. Integration and Validation<\/b><\/p>\n This phase will be focused on two interwoven activities: system integration (W<\/b>P<\/b>7 <\/b>led by UMH as project coo<\/p>\n rdinator in close cooperation with all the partners) and experimental validation of the\u00a0 integrated system (W<\/b>P<\/b>8 <\/b>led by\u00a0 CF, as\u00a0 a\u00a0 leading\u00a0 non-government\u00a0 organisation\u00a0 in\u00a0 UK working\u00a0 on\u00a0 delivering\u00a0 services \u00a0to\u00a0 primarily\u00a0 physically\u00a0 disabled \u00a0people\u00a0 in\u00a0 close\u00a0 collaboration with all the partners). Task 8.2 of WP8 dealing with the definition of experimental protocols and recruitment of volunteers for clinical validation \u00a0will \u00a0be \u00a0conducted \u00a0in \u00a0parallel \u00a0with \u00a0the final integration of the AIDE prototype.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 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.<\/p>\n Pha<\/b>se V. High Impact dissemination and exploitation<\/b><\/p>\n This phase will be devoted to maximize the impact of the project results during the project and after the project.\u00a0 W<\/b>P<\/b>9 <\/b>will be \u00a0focused\u00a0 on\u00a0 this\u00a0 issue \u00a0through\u00a0 two\u00a0 complementary activities:<\/p>\n 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 \u00a0journals.<\/p>\n ZED and BJ Adaptaciones will lead general \u00a0public \u00a0dissemination \u00a0and \u00a0exploitation \u00a0activities. 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 \u00a0project \u00a0to \u00a0the general public and to key stakeholders.<\/p>\n Regarding exploitation activities, ZED is particularly interested in \u00a0the \u00a0project \u00a0results regarding high innovat<\/p>\n 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 \u00a0involvement \u00a0of 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 \u00a0boundaries.<\/p>\n To summarize, the AIDE workplan is broken down in 9 WPs and each of them is divided into different tasks addressing the project general objectives. The work plan is shown in Figure 6, and it covers timescale of 36 months.<\/p>\n Each color is representative of a specific project phase. WP2 (in blue: Phase I) deals with the definition of end-user requirements and their translation into design requirements. WP3 (in orange: Phase II) is devoted to providing a modular hard\/soft architecture suitable for further research. WP4 to WP6 (in pink: Phase III) are focused on the development of the technological modules of the multimodal interface. This project phase will be iteratively run including endE user tests (Task 2.5) to refine integration of \u00a0technological \u00a0modules \u00a0developed \u00a0in \u00a0the \u00a0WP4E WP6 framework. Finally, WP8 (in red) is focused on the experimental validation of the AIDE system in a measurable and quantifiable way in real application scenarios.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 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.<\/p>\n\n
![\"WPs\"](\"https:\/\/aideproject.umh.es\/files\/2015\/05\/WPs.jpg\")
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