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This approach to technology development and evaluation integrates the user as a key stakeholder into the research process, not just as a passive voice but as a true co-creator.
A Person Based Approach to the Development of Upper Limb Prostheses
Start date: 9th January 2023
End date: 9th July 2023
PI: Dr Benjamin Metcalfe (University of Bath)
Co-Is: Dr Benjamin Ainsworth (University of Bath)
Leen Jabban (University of Bath)
Dr Nicola Bailey (University of Bath)
Partners: Mr Jonathan Raines (OpenBionics)
Upper-limb prostheses aid individuals with upper-limb differences with activities of daily living. However, despite technological advancements, high abandonment rates have persisted due to the mismatch between user needs and device performance. Our user interviews have shown that increasing trust, via techniques such as sensory feedback, could improve device use and retainment.
Most prosthetic advancements are developed and evaluated in the laboratory, often with ineffective communication between heterogeneous stakeholder groups. Thus, the potential benefits of sensory feedback (i.e., increased trust and reduced device abandonment) are not well understood. Outcome measures used in the home, such as usage patterns, lack the contextual information needed to fully evaluate the technologies.
This project builds on our user needs work to explore the home use of sensory feedback by developing a novel iterative design paradigm wherein technological developments will be co-created and evaluated in the home rather than the laboratory, combining the quantitative power of the Internet of Things (IoT) with the qualitative power of the Person-Based Approach to provide contextual outcome measures. A vibrotactile feedback “kit” will comprise sensors, vibration effectors, and an IoT node. The IoT enables deeper stakeholder engagement, with the user adjusting parameters and providing diary like feedback via the device, clinicians seeing daily usage data, and researchers accessing full technical data and iteratively adapting the design and outcome measures.
This approach to technology development and evaluation integrates the user as a key stakeholder into the research process, not just as a passive voice but as a true co-creator.