Assessing the accessibility of everyday products

If a product is being designed to be genuinely inclusive, then the designers need to be able to assess the level of exclusion of the product that they are working on and to identify possible areas of improvement. To be of practical use, the assessments need to be quick, consistent and repeatable. The aim of this workshop is to invite attendees to participate in the evaluation of a number of everyday objects using an assessment technique being considered by the workshop organisers. The objectives of the workshop include evaluating the effectiveness of the assessment method, evaluating the accessibility of the products being assessed and to suggest revisions to the assessment scales being used. The assessment technique is to be based on the ONS capability measures [1]. This source recognises fourteen capability scales of which seven are particularly pertinent to product evaluation, namely: motion, dexterity, reach and stretch, vision, hearing, communication, and intellectual functioning. Each of these scales ranges from 0 (fully able) through 1 (minimal impairment) to 10 (severe impairment). The attendees will be asked to rate the products on these scales. Clearly the assessed accessibility of the product depends on the assumptions made about the context of use. The attendees will be asked to clearly note the assumptions that they are making about the context in which the product is being assessed. For instance, with a hot water bottle, assumptions have to be made about the availability of hot water and these can affect the overall accessibility rating. The workshop organisers will not specify the context of use as the aim is to identify how assessors would use the assessment method in the real world. The objects being assessed will include items such as remote controls, pill bottles, food packaging, hot water bottles and mobile telephones. the attendees will be encouraged to assess two or more products in detail. Helpers will be on hand to assist and observe the assessments. The assessments will be collated and compared and feedback about the assessment method sought from the attendees. Drawing on a preliminary review of the assessment results, initial conclusions will be presented at the end of the workshop. More detailed analyses will be made available in subsequent proceedings. It is intended that the workshop will provide workshop attendees with an opportunity to perform hands-on assessment of a number everyday products and identify features which are inclusive and those that are not. It is also intended to encourage an appreciation of the capabilities to be considered when evaluating accessibility.

Morphological computation of multi-gaited robot locomotion based on free vibration.

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the study of gait patterns in both animals and robots, because it allows us to systematically investigate the underlying mechanisms of energetics, dexterity, and autonomy of adaptive systems. In particular, for morphological computation research, the control of dynamic legged robots and their gait transitions provides additional insights into the guiding principles from a synthetic viewpoint for the emergence of sensible self-organizing behaviors in more-degrees-of-freedom systems. This article presents a novel approach to the study of gait patterns, which makes use of the intrinsic mechanical dynamics of robotic systems. Each of the robots consists of a U-shaped elastic beam and exploits free vibration to generate different locomotion patterns. We developed a simplified physics model of these robots, and through experiments in simulation and real-world robotic platforms, we show three distinctive mechanisms for generating different gait patterns in these robots.

Resonance based multi-gaited robot locomotion

In order to understand the underlying mechanisms of animals' agility, dexterity and efficiency in motor control, there has been an increasing interest in the study of gait patterns in biological and artificial legged systems. This paper presents a novel approach to the study of gait patterns which makes use of intrinsic mechanical dynamics of robotic systems. Each of these robots consists of a U-shape elastic beam and exploits free vibration to generate different gait patterns. We developed a conceptual model for these robots, and through simulation and real-world experiments, we show three distinct mechanisms for generating four different gait patterns in these robots. © 2012 IEEE.

AI in locomotion: Challenges and perspectives of underactuated robots

This article discusses the issues of adaptive autonomous navigation as a challenge of artificial intelligence. We argue that, in order to enhance the dexterity and adaptivity in robot navigation, we need to take into account the decentralized mechanisms which exploit physical system-environment interactions. In this paper, by introducing a few underactuated locomotion systems, we explain (1) how mechanical body structures are related to motor control in locomotion behavior, (2) how a simple computational control process can generate complex locomotion behavior, and (3) how a motor control architecture can exploit the body dynamics through a learning process. Based on the case studies, we discuss the challenges and perspectives toward a new framework of adaptive robot control. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.