Christopher Brandl

Demographic and Health Related Data of Users of a Mobile Application to Support Drug Adherence is Associated with Usage Duration and Intensity

Purpose A wealth of mobile applications are designed to support users in their drug intake. When developing software for patients, it is important to understand the differences between individuals who have, who will or who might never adopt mobile interventions. This study analyzes demographic and health-related factors associated with real-life “longer usage” and the “usage-intensity per day” of the mobile application “Medication Plan”. Methods Between 2010-2012, the mobile application “Medication Plan” could be downloaded free of charge from the Apple-App-Store. It was aimed at supporting the regular and correct intake of medication. Demographic and health-related data were collected via an online questionnaire. This study analyzed captured data. Results App-related activities of 1799 users (1708 complete data sets) were recorded. 69% (1183/1708) applied “Medication Plan” for more than a day. 74% were male (872/1183), the median age 45 years. Variance analysis showed a significant effect of the users´ age with respect to duration of usage (p = 0.025). While the mean duration of use was only 23.3 days for users younger than 21 years, for older users, there was a substantial increase over all age cohorts up to users of 60 years and above (103.9 days). Sex and educational status had no effect. “Daily usage intensity” was directly associated with an increasing number of prescribed medications and increased from an average of 1.87 uses per day and 1 drug per day to on average 3.71 uses per day for users stating to be taking more than 7 different drugs a day (p<0.001). Demographic predictors (sex, age and educational attainment) did not affect usage intensity. Conclusion Users aged 60+ as well as those with complicated therapeutic drug regimens relied on the service we provided for more than three months on average. Mobile applications may be a promising approach to support the treatment of patients with chronic conditions.

A mobile application improves therapy-adherence rates in elderly patients undergoing rehabilitation: A crossover design study comparing documentation via iPad with paper-based control.

AbstractMedication adherence is crucial for success in the management of patients with chronic conditions. This study analyzes whether a mobile application on a tablet aimed at supporting drug intake and vital sign parameter documentation affects adherence in elderly patients.Patients with coronary heart disease and no prior knowledge of tablet computers were recruited. They received a personal introduction to the mobile application Medication Plan, installed on an Apple iPad. The study was conducted using a crossover design with 3 sequences: initial phase, interventional phase (28 days of using the app system), and comparative phase (28 days of using a paper diary). Users experienced the interventional and comparative phases alternately.A total of 24 patients (12 males; mean age 73.8 years) were enrolled in the study. The mean for subjectively assessed adherence (A14-scale; 5-point Likert scale, from “never” to “very often” which results in a score from 0 to 56) before the study was 50.0 (SD = 3.44). After both interventions there was a significant increase, which was more pronounced after the interventional phase (54.0; SD = 2.01) than after the comparative phase (52.6; SD = 2.49) (for all pairs after both interventions, P <0.001). Neither medical conditions nor the number of drug intake (amount and frequency of drug taking) per day affected subjective adherence. Logging data showed a significantly stronger adherence for the medication app than the paper system for both blood pressure recordings (P <0.001) and medication intake (P = 0.033). The majority of participants (n = 22) stated that they would like to use the medication app in their daily lives and would not need further assistance with the app.A mobile app for medication adherence increased objectively and subjectively measured adherence in elderly users undergoing rehabilitation. The findings have promising clinical implications: digital tools can assist chronic disease patients achieve adherence to medication and to blood pressure measurement. Although this requires initial offline training, it can reduce complications and clinical overload because of nonadherence.

Assistive robots in eldercare and daily living: automation of individual services for senior citizens

This paper presents the latest results with regard to the design of service robots and interfaces for human-robot interaction in recent empirical research projects. Focus is on establishing services for health care, nursing homes, rehabilitation and homely aftercare in respect of the demands coinciding with demographic change. Within several user studies and clinical trials relevant application scenarios, arrangement of working spaces and the stature layout of robots were elicited and their influence on intuitive understanding and technical acceptance investigated. Additionally the implementation of information input with help of swabbing movements on touch screens for people suffering from hand tremor was accomplished, considering the specific requirements and computer literacy of the prospective users.

Ergonomic analysis of working postures using OWAS in semi-trailer assembly, applying an individual sampling strategy

In semi-trailer assembly, workers are exposed to several physical risk factors. Awkward working postures have not yet been investigated in semi-trailer assembly, although they are known to be a major risk factor for musculoskeletal disorders. We therefore conducted a comprehensive ergonomic analysis of working postures using the Ovako working posture analysing system (OWAS), with an individual sampling strategy. The postural load in semi-trailer assembly was assessed on the basis of 20,601 observations of 63 workers executing a representative set of nine work tasks. According to the OWAS, the postural load of various working postures and body part positions may have a harmful effect on the musculoskeletal system. We therefore give examples of corrective measures that could improve awkward working postures. Applying an individual sampling strategy was revealed to have advantages over a collective strategy, so this is recommended for future ergonomic analyses.

Human-Robot Synergy For Cooperative Robots

This paper presents two human-robot cooperative application scenarios of the project MeRoSy (Human-Robot Synergy) funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The first scenario relates to the human-robot cooperation in an industrial application, while the second one refers to the robotic workplace assistance for people with disabilities. The presented scenarios reflect different aspects of human-robot interaction, among others different novel possibilities for human-robot interaction depending on different physical abilities of human co-worker. Beside the consideration of the human-robot cooperative technologies in two MeRoSy scenarios, this paper considers also the identification and classification of the ethical, legal and social implications (ELSI) in the context of human-robot cooperation.

Human-Robot Interaction: Testing Distances that Humans will Accept Between Themselves and a Robot Approaching at Different Speeds

Service robotics has great potential for helping people to live independent lives in their own homes. However, if this potential is to be fully exploited in the near future, research and development cannot limit itself to solving the technological challenges involved. The only way to develop service robots that people will accept is to get potential users involved in the process as early as possible. With that in mind, this study investigates human-robot interaction from the perspective of a service robot approaching the user at varying speeds. We developed an empirical study to measure the distance that humans will accept between themselves and a robot when approached by that robot. The results show that the robot’s speed and the test subject’s body position significantly affect the accepted distance. We also found that the physical appearance of humanoid service robots has no substantial bearing on the accepted distance.

TAM Reloaded: A Technology Acceptance Model for Human-Robot Cooperation in Production Systems

The cooperation and collaboration between humans and robots is getting ever closer: While the human body was historically protected by a large safety distance, more and more organizations let robots and humans work hand-in-hand. This means that humans and robots are sharing physical space and are engaging in direct contact with each other. One factor that predicts successful human-robot interaction is the acceptance of the robot by the human. In general, only when a product covers human needs and expectations, it is perceived to be useful and hence accepted. This paper aims at presenting an acceptance model with regard to the cooperation between humans and robots that is based on prior acceptance models while also taking ethical, legal and social implications (ELSI) into account.

Design recommendations for the creation of icons for the elderly

During employment of icons in order to represent system functions, specific user requirements from elderly people have not been scientifically gathered and thus will merely be considered during the process of system design. The survey, with explicit consideration of technology acceptance and experience of 120 elderly probands, looked into the comprehension of four different classes of non-animated graphical representations. It was shown that among elderly, the use of photos compared to pictograms or clip art leads to a significantly higher recognition rate. The mapping of actions rather than objects leads to a further reduction of the error probability and is thus, especially in the context of telemedicine, preferable for the target group.

Best-Practice Approach for a Solution-Oriented Technology Assessment: Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues in the Context of Human-Robot Collaboration

Future robots will process work tasks with a high degree of complexity even for small batch sizes in collaboration with the working person, simultaneously, and within a specified workplace. Due to the transformation from robots that are spatially and temporally separated from the working person and are programmed to execute tasks in a deterministic manner towards collaborative, adaptive lightweight robots, ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) should be considered. The purpose of this contribution is to determine how changing human-robot collaboration impacts technology. To this end potential ELSI problems and their possible causes and effects are identified and quantitatively analyzed based on the Aachen Model of Identification, Classification and Analysis of ethical, legal, and social Implications (AMICAI). Furthermore, the impacts of technology are identified and evaluated alongside potential risks, opportunities, and potentials of human-robot collaboration. This best-practice approach describes the results of applying AMICAI based on expert workshops focusing on the application example of a human-robot collaborative workplace in manufacturing.

Analysis of Different Types of Navigational Structures for Machine Tool Controlling

The rapid technological developments in the manufacturing industry and an increasing demand for more and more complex and individual products has led to the development of modern machine tools from simple tools to highly automated technical products. The trend towards cyber physical production systems will intensify this development in the machine tool sector in context with the so-called fourth industrial revolution. In particular, the increasing quantity of mechatronic components in machine tools has led to a high amount of different functions that need to be controlled by the user. Empirical research has shown that user oriented Human-Machine-Interface-design (HMI-design) reduces error rates and cognitive load for the machine operator and can lead to an increase in effectiveness and efficiency with regard to the interaction. In this paper we introduce a study which points out the impact of user centered design by analyzing the differences of workflow-oriented and function-oriented HMIs. The results of the study show that work task performance can be enhanced by workflow-oriented HMI by improving the time needed and diminishing the number of clicks and errors for specific work tasks.