A Robotic Guide for Blind People. Part 1. A Multi-National Survey of the Attitudes, Requirements and Preferences of Potential End-Users

Hersh, Marion; Johnson, Michael

doi:10.1155/2010/252609

Cited by 17 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…In the past, little attention has been paid to the aesthetics of many types of assistive devices [48]. However, research shows that end-users consider device appearance to be very important and want assistive devices to be elegant and attractive [58,59]. End-users may also be expected to be grateful that devices are available regardless of any associated stigma or negative image [48].…”

Section: Stigma Disability and Assistive Devicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deafblind people, stigma and the use of communication and mobility assistive devices

Hersh

2013

TAD

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This paper draws on interviews with 27 deafblind people and the mother of an autistic deafblind woman carried out as part of a larger research project on travel issues for blind, partially sighted and deafblind people to investigate and report on issues related to the use of communication and mobility assistive devices, in particular long canes, guide dogs, hearing aids and wheelchairs. The interviewees came from six different countries and both similarities and differences were found between the experiences in the different countries. One of the main themes that arose in the context of the use of these devices was stigmatisation. This is already frequently a problem for deafblind people due to the additive or multiplicative effects of what could be seen as two distinct impairments. Consequently actual experiences or fears of being stigmatised as a result of using assistive devices led to some deafblind people who might benefit from these devices not using them. This generally makes them more dependent on other people for personal assistance and may reduce their quality of life, as such assistance is not always available. However, deafblind people are as diverse as any other population group and many of the interviewees used communication and mobility assistive devices and considered their benefits to outweigh any possible stigmatisation. Several of the interviewees used several assistive devices and had found some of them easier to accept than others. the EDU definition requires the person to have 'significant auditory and visual impairments' and the resulting barriers are 'obstacles in communication with the surroundings and prevents normal participation in society'.The interpersonal communication approaches used by deafblind people are discussed in more detail in [3] and include spoken, sign and tactile sign languages, deafblind manual alphabets and finger Braille (typing on six fingers like a Braille keyboard). Thus the development of assistive communication devices for deafblind people is complicated by their use of a number of different communication strategies, giving a need for different communication devices for different groups of deafblind people. A number of assistive communication devices have been developed to support deaf people who use spoken languages [4], including hearing aids, cochlear implants, induction loop and infrared assistive listening systems. Portable communication devices have been developed for deafblind people who use manual alphabets or finger Braille, for instance [5-

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Section: Stigma Disability and Assistive Devicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deafblind people, stigma and the use of communication and mobility assistive devices

Hersh

2013

TAD

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“…Several studies (e.g. Arras and Cerqui 2005, Hersh and Johnson 2010, Oestreicher 2007and Wu et al 2012 have found that potential users preferred a robot looking like a machine to one with a humanoid appearance. On the other hand, other studies indicate that people prefer software agents with human faces (Kiesler and Sproull 1997 ;Koda and Maes 1996 ;Takeuchi and Naito 1995 ), robots with a more human appearance (Hinds et al 2004 ) and robots to communicate in a humanlike way (Dautenhahn et al 2005 ).…”

Section: Legged Robotsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethical Engineering for International Development and Environmental Sustainability

Hersh¹

2015

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“…Alongside visual manipulation approaches, haptic feedback can be used to induce changes in walking direction. One example, is the use of robotic guide dogs, who can help to guide the visually impaired safely along paths (Chuang et al, 2018), which may be implemented so that the user holds onto a cane/handle (Chuang et al, 2018), and when the robot turns the user receives haptic feedback based on the mass of the robot indicating movement (Hersh and Johnson, 2010). Another example is galvanic vestibular stimulation in which the placement of electrodes behind an individual's ear, can induce postural adjustments through the use of electrical currents (Maeda et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Use of Embedded Context-Sensitive Attractors for Clinical Walking Test Guidance in Virtual Reality

Croucher¹,

Powell²,

Dicks³

et al. 2021

Front. Virtual Real.

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Virtual reality is increasingly used in rehabilitation and can provide additional motivation when working toward therapeutic goals. However, a particular problem for patients regards their ability to plan routes in unfamiliar environments. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore how visual cues, namely embedded context-sensitive attractors, can guide attention and walking direction in VR, for clinical walking interventions. This study was designed using a butterfly as the embedded context-sensitive attractor, to guide participant locomotion around the clinical figure of eight walk test, to limit the use of verbal instructions. We investigated the effect of varying the number of attractors for figure of eight path following, and whether there are any negative impacts on perceived autonomy or workload. A total of 24 participants took part in the study and completed six attractor conditions in a counterbalanced order. They also experienced a control VE (no attractors) at the beginning and end of the protocol. Each VE condition lasted a duration of 1 min and manipulated the number of attractors to either singular or multiple alongside, the placement of turning markers (virtual trees) used to represent the cones used in clinical settings for the figure of eight walk test. Results suggested that embedded context-sensitive attractors can be used to guide walking direction, following a figure of eight in VR without impacting perceived autonomy, and workload. However, there appears to be a saturation point, with regards to effectiveness of attractors. Too few objects in a VE may reduce feelings of intrinsic motivation, and too many objects in a VE may reduce the effectiveness of attractors for guiding individuals along a figure of eight path. We conclude by indicating future research directions, for attractors and their use as a guide for walking direction.

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A Robotic Guide for Blind People. Part 1. A Multi-National Survey of the Attitudes, Requirements and Preferences of Potential End-Users

Cited by 17 publications

References 9 publications

Deafblind people, stigma and the use of communication and mobility assistive devices

Deafblind people, stigma and the use of communication and mobility assistive devices

Ethical Engineering for International Development and Environmental Sustainability

The Use of Embedded Context-Sensitive Attractors for Clinical Walking Test Guidance in Virtual Reality

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