D Daniel Tetteroo

Lessons Learnt from Deploying an End-User Development Platform for Physical Rehabilitation

Clinical researchers in rehabilitation technology have often called for exercise customization to address patient specific needs. Where such customization transcends simple parameter setting, the need for End-User Development (EUD) arises. EUD in this field can potentially tap on the expertise of highly skilled workers, but presents serious challenges regarding acceptance by end users and the feasibility of embedding EUD in their professional practice. This paper describes the deployment and adoption process of TagTrainer, a physical rehabilitation technology that supports EUD. TagTrainer was deployed in four rehabilitation clinics and was used by 24 rehabilitation therapists. We analyze how they engaged in EUD activities and we discuss decisions that we took in the design and deployment of TagTrainer. Based on these case studies, we present guidelines for the deployment of EUD systems.

Design of an interactive playground based on traditional children's play

This paper presents a novel method for interactive playground design, based on traditional childrens play. This method combines the rich interaction possibilities of computer games with the physical and open-ended aspects of traditional childrens games. The method is explored by the development of a prototype interactive playground, which has been implemented and evaluated over two iterations.

Five key challenges in end-user development for tangible and embodied interaction

As tangible and embodied systems are making the transition from the labs to everyday life, there is a growth in the applications related research and design work in this field. We argue that the potential of these technologies can be even further leveraged by enabling domain experts such as teachers, therapists and home owners to act as end-user developers in order to modify and create content for their tangible interactive systems. However, there are important issues that need to be addressed if we want to enable these end users to act as developers. In this paper we identify five key challenges for meta-designers in enabling end-users to develop for tangible and embodied interaction.

A review of research methods in end user development

This article gives a structured overview of the field of End User Development, and its related fields of End User Programming, End User Software Engineering and meta-design. We have analyzed 93 papers from these fields that have been published between 2004 and 2013 in major and relevant journals and conference proceedings. The article discusses the methods, purpose and impact of the research that was analyzed, and points towards trends within the research community, as well as research gaps that need to be addressed.

Tag-exercise creator: towards end-user development for tangible interaction in rehabilitation training

Tangible and embodied interactive technology (TEIT) consists of tightly coupled physical devices and software, which is less the case with mainstream platforms like personal computers, smartphones, etc. Currently TEIT is manufactured by small- and medium-sized niche technology providers for whom application domain specific development can represent an excessive threshold. End-user development by domain specialists emerges as an avenue to mitigate this issue. This research has set out to enable therapists to create solutions for rehabilitation training, through the development of the Tag-Exercise Creator (TEC). This paper motivates the use of tangible interactive systems for this problem domain, and describes the design, implementation and initial evaluation of TEC. Our study indicates that tools like TEC can enable domain experts to perform EUD tasks and create training content. Improvements and extensions to TEC are under way to enable a field trial of the system where the feasibility of EUD as a professional practice will be evaluated.

TagTrainer: supporting exercise variability and tailoring in technology supported upper limb training.

BackgroundRehabilitation technology for upper limb training can potentially increase the amount, duration, and quality of therapy offered to patients by targeting the needs of individual patients. Empirical evaluations of such technologies focus on clinical effectiveness; however, little is known regarding the implications of their implementation in daily practice. Tailoring training content to patients requires active participation by therapists, and requires an extension of their role to include authoring and modifying exercises. It is not yet known whether this is feasible, and the socio-technical requirements that will make it successful in practice have not yet been explored. The current study investigates the extent to which therapists can take the role of authoring patient-specific training content and whether effort savings can be achieved by sharing the created content.MethodWe present TagTrainer: an interactive tabletop system for rehabilitation that can be operated by manipulating every day physical objects in order to carry out exercises that simulate daily living tasks. TagTrainer supports therapists in creating their own exercises that fit individual patient needs, in adjusting existing exercises, and in putting together personalized exercise programs for and with patients. Four therapists in stroke- and paraplegia-rehabilitation have used TagTrainer for three weeks. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the therapists, questionnaires were administered to them, and observation notes and usage logs were collected.ResultsA total of 20 exercises were created from scratch, while another three exercises were created as variations of the existing ones. Importantly, all these exercises were created to address specific needs that patients expressed. The patients found the exercises motivating and these exercises were integrated into their regular training.ConclusionsTagTrainer can support arm-hand rehabilitation training by increasing therapy variability and tailoring. Therapists consider TagTrainer most suited for group sessions where they supervise many patients at once. Therapists are motivated and are able to, with minimal training, create and tailor exercises for patients fitting individual needs and capabilities. Future research will examine the socio-technical conditions that will encourage therapists to contribute and share training content, and provide the peer support needed for the adoption of a new technology.

TagTrainer : a meta-design approach to interactive rehabilitation technology

Abstract. Together with the rising demand for healthcare, the need for assisting technology within the eld of rehabilitation is increasing. However, this technology needs to be exible and adjustable to address the variability and context dependency of therapy in daily practice. Cur- rent technology is hardly adjustable and therefore often fails in regular therapy situations. This research applies the principles of End-User De- velopment and cultures of participation to create a socio-technical envi- ronment in which technology providers, care providers and patients are enabled to adjust technology to the needs of rehabilitation therapy.

Rehabilitation Therapists as Software Creators?: Introducing End-User Development in a Healthcare Setting

The authors discuss the feasibility of End-User Development (EUD) for non-information workers in the context of neurorehabilitation. The authors present a three-week long field deployment of TagTrainer, a system that enables therapists to create, share, and use exercises for arm-hand training with a tangible interactive tabletop application. The experiences suggest that therapists are capable and motivated to create content that is tailored to the training needs of their patients. Three key challenges are identified for enabling EUD practices in a clinical setting, which appear to have a broader relevance outside the specific domain of neurorehabilitation: more support for retrieval and sharing of existing solutions developed by end users, guiding end-user developers to ensure usability and software quality for their creations, and aligning with the revenue model of the organization.

Oh music, where art thou?

We propose a novel concept for navigation for bicyclists based on 3D-audio. The concept has been implemented in a prototype and evaluated in a small user test. The results indicate a hopeful future for audio-based navigation for bicyclists.

Mimo Pillow—An Intelligent Cushion Designed With Maternal Heart Beat Vibrations for Comforting Newborn Infants

Premature infants are subject to numerous interventions ranging from a simple diaper change to surgery while residing in neonatal intensive care units. These neonates often suffer from pain, distress, and discomfort during the first weeks of their lives. Although pharmacological pain treatment often is available, it cannot always be applied to relieve a neonate from pain or discomfort. This paper describes a nonpharmacological solution, called Mimo, which provides comfort through mediation of a parents physiological features to the distressed neonate via an intelligent pillow system embedded with sensing and actuating functions. We present the design, the implementation, and the evaluation of the prototype. Clinical tests at Máxima Medical Center in the Netherlands show that among the nine of ten infants who showed discomfort following diaper change, a shorter recovery time to baseline skin conductance analgesimeter values could be measured when the maternal heartbeat vibration in the Mimo was switched ON and in seven of these ten a shorter crying time was measured.