Lessons Learned in the Design of Configurable Assistive Technology with Smart Devices

Assistive Technology (AT) aims at compensating for motor, sensory or cognitive functional limitations of its users. We report on a study with a single tetraplegic participant using AT that we have been developing for interaction with multiple devices in smart connected environments. We wanted to investigate a user’s reaction during his first encounter with this technology and to verify if needs and opportunities for AT configuration would emerge from study activities and interviews. Results show implicit and explicit configuration needs and opportunities suggesting that we must address both hardware and software configuration, some to be done by the end user, others by assistants. At this initial stage our contribution is to propose a structure for organizing the AT configuration problem space in order to support the design of similar technologies.