In this paper we explore the role of subjective well-being within the process of making together a personalized assistive device. Through a process of social product adaptation, assistive artifacts become part of occupational therapy and co-evolve with clients. Personal digital fabrication tools enable small user groups to make and share their one-of-a-kind products with the world. This approach opens up new possibilities for disabled people and their caregivers to actively engage with their own skills and challenges. The paper describes a case study of an inclusive participatory design approach, which leads to qualitative occupational experiences within the field of communitybased practice. The aim is to show how the process of collaborative designing, making and using artifacts fosters several elements of subject well-being in itself. The starting point of this open design process is a threefold interaction involving industrial designers, patients and occupational therapists within their local product ecology. Co-experience driven design is an intersubjective process that enables all individual stakeholders to work on a common phenomenon in respect of each subjective experience. Participatory prototyping is applied as a mobilization medium that (a) coordinates and (b) motivates design actions towards collaborative well-being equilibriums. This form of artifact-mediated participatory design embodies simultaneously (1) a communication language between all stakeholders that identifies meaningful goals, (2) an explorative process to attain and challenge these goals, (3) a selection of meaningful and engaging prototyping activities and (4) an appropriateness process with local skills and technology. By implementing this creative process, disabled people and their carers become conscious actors in providing collaborative maintenance of their own physical, mental and social well-being.

The Role of Subjective Well-Being in Co-Designing Open-Design Assistive Devices; design case study

Microservice Architecture (MSA) is a rising trend in software architecture design. Applications based on MSA are distributed applications whose components are microservices. MSA has already been adopted with great success by numerous companies, and a significant number of published papers discuss its advantages. However, the results of recent studies show that there are several important challenges in the adoption of microservices such as finding the right decomposition approach, heterogeneous technology stacks, lack of relevant skills, out-of-date documentation, etc. In this paper, we present Silvera, a Domain-Specific Language (DSL), and a compiler for accelerating the development of microservices. Silvera is a declarative language that allows users to model the architecture of microservice-based systems. It is designed so that it can be used both by inexperienced and experienced developers. The following characteristics distinguish Silvera from similar tools: (i) lightweight and editor-agnostic language, (ii) built with heterogeneity in mind, (iii) uses microservice-tailored metrics to evaluate the architecture of the designed system, and (iv) automatically generates the documentation. Silvera’s retargetable compiler transforms models into runnable code and produces the documentation for each microservice in the model. The compiler can produce code for any programming language or framework since code generators are registered as plugins. We present a case study that illustrates the use of Silvera and also discuss some current limitations and development directions. To evaluate Silvera, we conducted a survey based on A Framework for Qualitative Assessment of DSLs (FQAD), where we focused on the following DSL characteristics: functional suitability, usability, reliability, productivity, extendability, and expressiveness. Overall, the survey results show that Silvera satisfies these characteristics.

/pdf/developing-microservice-based-applications-using-the-silvera-1egxetp7.pdf

Developing Microservice-Based Applications Using the Silvera Domain-Specific Language

We introduce a new mechanism and control system for wireless assistive finger training. The proposed mechanism and control system can provide natural finger flexion and extension via magnetic force and torque between a driving coil and a multi-link magnetic assist device placed on the fingers. The proposed mechanism is designed to allow normal movement while maintaining a natural finger shape, even when multiple magnets are applied to the fingers. Anatomical features were considered in the design to accommodate the angular changes between the fingers during hand extension and flexion. The magnetic force between the control system and the device on the hand allows extension and flexion of the fingers without the use of wires and electrical motors. The performance of the driving system and the magnetic device were verified through various simulations and experiments. A control program with motion tracking is also developed using LabView software. Hence, a wireless assistive finger training system is successfully realized.

Multi-Link Magnet Device with Electromagnetic Manipulation System for Assisting Finger Movements with Wireless Operation

Rehabilitation robotics aims to facilitate the rehabilitation procedure for patients and physical therapists. This field has a relatively long history dating back to the 1990s; however, their implementation and the standardisation of their application in the medical field does not follow the same pace, mainly due to their complexity of reproduction and the need for their approval by the authorities. This paper aims to describe architecture that can be applied to industrial robots and promote their application in healthcare ecosystems. The control of the robotic arm is performed using the software called SmartHealth, offering a 2 Degree of Autonomy (DOA). Data are gathered through electromyography (EMG) and force sensors at a frequency of 45 Hz. It also proves the capabilities of such small robots in performing such medical procedures. Four exercises focused on shoulder rehabilitation (passive, restricted active-assisted, free active-assisted and Activities of Daily Living (ADL)) were carried out and confirmed the viability of the proposed architecture and the potential of small robots (i.e., the UR3) in rehabilitation procedure accomplishment. This robot can perform the majority of the default exercises in addition to ADLs but, nevertheless, their limits were also uncovered, mainly due to their limited Range of Motion (ROM) and cost.

/pdf/robot-assisted-rehabilitation-architecture-supported-by-a-3bmrmbw6.pdf

Robot-Assisted Rehabilitation Architecture Supported by a Distributed Data Acquisition System

The majority of studies in psychology are nowadays performed using computers. In the past, access to good quality software was limited, but in the last two decades things have changed and today we have an array of good and easily accessible open-source software to choose from. However, experiment builders are either GUI-centric or based on general-purpose programming languages which require programming skills. In this paper, we investigate an approach based on domain-specific languages which enables a text-based experiment development using domain-specific concepts, enabling practitioners with limited or no programming skills to develop psychology tests. To investigate our approach, we created PyFlies, a domain-specific language for designing experiments in psychology, which we present in this paper. The language is tailored for the domain of psychological studies. The aim is to capture the essence of the experiment design in a concise and highly readable textual form. The editor for the language is built as an extension for Visual Studio Code, one of the most popular programming editors today. From the experiment description, various targets can be automatically produced. In this version, we provide a code generator for the PsychoPy library while generators for other target platforms are planned. We discuss the language, its concepts, syntax, some current limitations, and development directions. We investigate the language using a case study of the implementation of the Eriksen flanker task.

PyFlies: A Domain-Specific Language for Designing Experiments in Psychology

Rehabilitation aids help people with temporal or permanent disabilities during the rehabilitation process. However, these solutions are usually expensive and, consequently, inaccessible outside of professional medical institutions. Rapid advances in software development, Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, and additive manufacturing open up a way to affordable rehabilitation solutions, even to the general population. Imagine a rehabilitation aid constructed from accessible software and hardware with local production. Many obstacles exist to using such technology, starting with the development of unified software for custom-made devices. In this paper, we address open issues in designing rehabilitation aids by proposing an extensive rehabilitation platform. To demonstrate our concept, we developed a unique platform, RehabHand. The main idea is to use domain-specific language and code generation techniques to enable loosely coupled software and hardware solutions. The main advantage of such separation is support for modular and a higher abstraction level by enabling therapists to write rehabilitation exercises in natural, domain-specific terminology and share them with patients. The same platform provides a hardware-independent part that facilitates the integration of new rehabilitation devices. Experience in implementing RehabHand with three different rehabilitation devices confirms that such rehabilitation technology can be developed, and shows that implementing a hardware-independent rehabilitation platform might not be as challenging as expected.

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/1/389/pdf

Marjan Horvat

Papers

A Case Study on the Design and Implementation of a Platform for Hand Rehabilitation