
Renzo AndrichEASTIN The Global Assistive Technology Information Network
Renzo Andrich
Master of Engineering
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Introduction
Skills and Expertise
Additional affiliations
January 2012 - present
January 2003 - December 2011
October 1981 - present
Publications
Publications (64)
In this chapter, eight (past-)presidents of the Association for the Advancement of Assistive Technology in Europe (AAATE) reflect on their personal engagement with the technology and disability field. The result is a patchwork of personal contributions, reflecting aspects of the contemporary history of Assistive Technology in its broadest sense, re...
This paper describes a model which has been developed to represent knowledge about assistive products, to feed an artificial-intelligence-based online system offering guidance to identify and select the assistive products that best suit individual needs. In this model, each assistive product is described by a set of “knowledge rules” clustered roun...
Introduction: Standards or evidence-based practices are only sporadically and unevenly used in daily practice by assistive technology (AT) professionals to measure the outcomes of their service delivery practices. In order to assure a standard approach to AT service delivery outcome assessment, the Italian Network of Independent AT Centres (GLIC Ne...
Assistive technology supports maintenance or improvement of an individual’s functioning and independence, though for people in need the access to assistive products is not always guaranteed. This paper presents a generic quality framework for assistive technology service delivery that can be used independent of the setting, context, legislative fra...
This paper reports the findings of a study that developed a standardized method to measure the outcome of assistive technology solutions. Here the term "assistive technology solution" or "AT solution" is used to describe any intervention involving assistive technology products and environmental adaptations to address a person's individual problems...
This paper reports the findings of a study that developed a standardized method to track individual assistive technology (AT) interventions for any user, able to generate reports needed in clinical practice, measure the outcome and detect possible critical issues requiring adjustment. Individual AT interventions were carried out with 120 participan...
The study reported in this paper developed criteria and guidelines for writing up a good-quality AT Assessment Report - a document which is often required to activate an assistive technology intervention for an individual client. The Report should provide precise recommendations about the assistive solutions that best meet the client's needs, expla...
Robots have the potential to support care and independence of older adults. The ENRICHME project is developing an integrated system composed of a robot, sensors and a networking care platform, aiming at assisting older adults with MCI in their home environment. This paper reports findings of the tests performed on a sample of MCI users and their ca...
This paper offers some reflections on key concepts to be considered when developing policies related to assistive technology provision in the light of the UN Convention. The starting point is the Position Paper issued by AAATE and EASTIN in 2012, which defines the mission of a service delivery system (SDS) as “ensuring that all people with disabili...
Powered wheelchairs are complex and expensive assistive devices that must be selected and configured on the basis of individual user needs, lifestyle, motivation, driving ability, and environment. Providing agencies often require evidence that their financial investment will lead to a successful outcome. The authors surveyed a sample of 79 users wh...
This study surveyed a sample of 79 wheelchair users who had obtained powered wheelchairs from the National Health Service in an Italian Region in the period 2008-2013. The wheelchair prescriptions had been done on the basis of an assessment protocol agreed with the Local Health Authority. Follow-up interviews were carried out at the users' homes, i...
The European Assistive Technology Information Network (EASTIN), launched in 2005 as the result of a collaborative EU project, provides information on Assistive Technology products and related material through the website www.eastin.eu. In the past few years several advancements have been implemented on the EASTIN website thanks to the contribution...
BACKGROUND: The importance of providing accessible and accurate information on Assistive Technology products to all the stakeholders needing it is widely acknowledged. A standardization in the description of assistive products can facilitate the selection of the products that best match the individual needs. Furthermore the definition of a standard...
This paper presents a unified semantic framework that can used by vendors/service providers that would like to semantically describe their assistive technologies according to the categorization proposed by the ISO 9999 standard as well as the EASTIN taxonomy. The framework is based on an approach towards a unified semantic description of assistive...
Detailed information on the Assistive Technology (AT) Products available on the market is of paramount importance for many different stakeholders: people with disabilities and their family members, AT professionals, manufacturers/suppliers of AT products, researcher and developer, and policy makers. Since 2005 the organizations responsible for the...
Les principaux objectifs de la recherche consistent à créer des environnements inclusifs et accessibles sur le Web, en utilisant de manière innovante les technologies, en cohérence avec les aspects pédagogiques et didactiques, afin d’offrir l’égalité des chances aux personnes en situation de handicap ou ayant des besoins spécifiques pour leur perme...
Individual assessment for assistive technology solutions (AT) is often carried out as a specialist consultation in Assistive Technology Centres (ATCs), especially when inter-disciplinary competence and trial equipment are required. The SIVA service of the Don Gnocchi Foundation was the ATCs pioneer in Italy. SIVA stands for Servizio Informazione Va...
The purpose of this paper is to indicate a framework for exploiting the potential role of assistive technology (AT) in supporting care and participation of people with disabilities and elderly people through appropriate service delivery systems (SDS). The paper is based on the findings of the AAATE/EASTIN workshop Service Delivery Systems on Assist...
This article deals with the Italian localisation of the FABS/M [1] questionnaire, a new instrument measuring the effectiveness of mobility assistive technology devices. The FABS/M was developed in the United States within the framework of the ICF model. The questionnaire was translated into Italian and the resulting text was submitted to a panel of...
The importance of providing accessible and accurate information on Assistive Technology (AT) products to all the stakeholders needing it is widely acknowledged. In the past years, several AT information systems have been created in response to this need. Recently, information on AT products has also become important for building up the knowledge ba...
Individual assessment for assistive technology solutions (AT) is often carried out as a specialist consultation in Assistive Technology Centres (ATCs). The SIVA service of the Don Gnocchi Foundation was the ATCs pioneer in Italy: over 30 year of activity it offered about 23.000 individual consultations to clients from all over the country, and deve...
Background: Service robots may offer an innovative assistive solution to improve the quality of life of frail elderly people, by assisting them in specific situations identified as relevant to maintain independence. Objective: This paper describes the results of a qualitative and quantitative research based on a user-centered methodology carried ou...
The EASTIN Portal --- which aggregates the contents of six national databases and make it searchable in 22 European languages --- is currently the major information system on assistive technology available in Europe. Its usability has been recently improved through the use of advanced language technologies, thanks to the EU-funded project EASTIN-CL...
Within the ETNA project --- a European Thematic Network aimed at implementing a EU-wide Portal devoted to ICT-based assistive technologies and e-accessibility solution --- a study was carried out to detect the information needs of the various stakeholders involved, such as end-users of assistive technologies, professionals in health, social service...
In the framework of the EU funded SRS (Multi-Role Shadow Robotic System for independent Living) project, an innovative semi autonomous service robot is under development with the aim to support frail elderly people at their home. This paper reports about the user validation of the SRS concept involving 63 potential users of the system coming from I...
A fronte delle potenzialitŕ offerte dai continui sviluppi tecnologici, il problema principale non č oggi l'indisponibilitŕ di ausili, ma la possibilitŕ di individuare quali siano le tecnologie giuste per una soluzione personalizzata nel singolo caso, come acquisirle, assemblarle, come imparare ad usarle efficacemente. Nel presente contributo analiz...
Neurodegenerative diseases (NDD) require a constant care and attention in pharmacological therapy and rehabilitation, exercises administration, functional assessments and management of daily life. In this paper, we discuss a possible role of pervasive solutions with respect to NDD, on the basis of the overall progress of ICT and on the experience a...
Objective. Individual assessment for assistive technology solutions (AT) is often part of the rehabilitation program; however, it may also be carried out as a specialist consultation in Assistive Technology Centres (ATCs), especially when inter-disciplinary competence and trial equipment are required. Currently, this specialist consultation is not...
Objective: The objective of the ACube (Ambient Aware Assistance) project is the development and testing of an advanced monitoring system to support professional caregivers in nursing home and residential care facilities. The goal of the system is the detection of events potentially dangerous for the guest of nursing homes, or interesting for the he...
If working tasks are carried out in inadequate conditions, workers with functional limitations may, over time, risk developing further disabilities. While several validated risk assessment methods exist for able-bodied workers, few studies have been carried out for workers with disabilities. This article, which reports the findings of a Study funde...
The World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule II (WHO-DAS II) is a non-disease-specific International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health-based disability assessment instrument developed to measure activity limitations and restrictions to participation. The aim of this pilot study is to evaluate WHO-DAS II responsiv...
In the latest years the Internet has been playing a growing role as information source on disability-related issues According to the ICF model, access to information is a contextual factor that may act as facilitator in helping the person s functioning in society In this view we developed a specialized search engine named Bussola, expanding the pos...
This paper describes the preliminary results of a project, carried out on behalf of the Italian Ministry of Health, with the objective of creating a Register of ICT Assistive Devices for supporting appropriate provision of Assistive Technology Forms for technical specification have been created for all the typology of devices included in the Italia...
A on-line tool was developed to assist rehabilitation teams in choosing the appropriate assistive devices meeting the clients' individual needs and compiling the prescription package for provision through the National Health Service Such tool is implemented on the Italian national Assistive Technology Information Portal, It provides the following f...
If working tasks are carried out in inadequate conditions, workers with functional limitations may, over time, risk developing
further disabilities. While several validated risk assessment methods exist for able-bodied workers, few studies have been
carried out for workers with disabilities. This paper, which reports the preliminary findings of a S...
The state-of-the-art in cost-outcome analysis of assistive technology (AT) is first reviewed, and then the article focuses particularly on the cost aspects of such technology. It elaborates on the concept of 'social cost' as the main indicator of AT economic impact, and proposes methods to compare alternative AT solutions in terms of social cost. A...
Based on a survey of 31 individual AT (Assistive Technology) programmes, an attempt has been made to infer social cost indicators for various categories of AT equipment. Cost analysis was carried out by means of the SCAI (Siva Cost Analysis Instrument). The first finding is that - not surprisingly - most AT solutions, though very expensive in terms...
The DAT project is a research initiative that aims at building up a smart home environment where people with disabilities can improve their abilities to cope with daily life activities by means of technologically advanced home automation solutions. The project has a threefold purpose. The smart home will be used as a physical setting, where clients...
EASTIN (European Assistive Technology Information Network) is a trans-national information service on Assistive Technologies
for people with disabilities, that aggregates the contents of six national information systems in Italy (Portale SIVA), Germany
(Rehadat), Denmark (HMI Basen), the United Kingdom (DLF Data), The Netherlands (Hulpmiddelenwijze...
A new method for assessing preference based outcome measures in rehabilitation with assistive devices is reported. The method uses a standard utility instrument, the EuroQol, with complementary items on mobility and social relationships. In addition, a problem solving scale (PIRS) is introduced. Validation has been carried out in a multicenter stud...
Individually Prioritised Problem Assessment (IPPA) is an instrument to assess the effectiveness of assistive technology provision. It is a generic instrument that can be used to assess the extent to which problems identified by an individual assistive technology user have been diminished. IPPA was developed because existing instruments in the field...
The SCAI instrument was designed to help clinicians estimate the economic aspects of the provision of assistive technology (AT) solutions to individual users. Use of the instrument involves three steps: 1) describing the objectives of the individual AT programme 2) establishing the sequence and the timing of all the interventions that form the prog...
Awareness and knowledge of Assistive Technology (AT) are key factors in supporting empowerment of people with disabilities. They also greatly contribute to the success of AT solutions. Based on the findings of the EUSTAT study--an international project within the Telematics Application Programme of the European Commission--this paper offers a synth...
Selected scientific papers in this book provide excellent insight in the current state-of-the-act in the field of assistive technology. Chapters on universal design in the information society, rehabilitation robotics, human machine interface, augmentative and alternative communication, assistive technology in education and training, restoration and...
Individually Prioritised Problem Assessment (IPPA) is an instrument to assess the effectiveness of assistive technology provision. It is a generic instrument that can be used to assess the extent to which problems identified by an individual assistive technology user have been diminished. IPPA was developed because existing instruments in the field...
During the CERTAIN study (research carried out in 1994-96 within the Technology Initiative for Disabled and Elderly (TIDE) programme of the European Union), a number of real life case studies of provision of assistive technology to disabled persons were investigated in order to assess the applicability of socio-economic principles, methods and tech...
CSELT has completed the TWIN project in cooperation with SIVA and other organization in 5 European Countries (Italy, Great Britain, Ireland, Finland, Greece). TWIN is an international project whose goal was to assess the opportunities and barriers for teleworking by the disabled. TWIN has been partly funded by the European Commission in the context...
An experimental teleworking arrangement was established between Milan and Rome in order to evaluate the use of multimedia technology and remote working for improving the service provided by an information and advice centre for the disabled. This activity requires a highly interdisciplinary approach and both clinical and technical expertise. The hyp...
A computerised information system with multimedia capabilities is described which supports a network of technical aids information and advice Centres in Italy. The system is currently used by 58 Centres disseminated throughout the Country, mainly run by Local Health Authorities of the National Health Service, and by 10 Centres abroad. The distribut...
La conoscenza, da parte dell'utente, delle tecnologie di ausilio og gi disponibili e la c onsapevolezza del l oro ruolo nel processo d i riabilitazione e d'integrazione sociale rappresentano un importante fattore di empowerment della persona c on disabilità. La motivazione e la partecipazione a ttiva nella scelta dell'ausilio spesso costituiscono u...
One of the basic aspects that determines the success or failure in the use of assistive technologies on the part of people with disabilities is constituted by the ability that provide a disabled person with the technology that corresponds effectively to his needs and to his capabilities, thus to interpret correctly the problems and to find the righ...
The SCAI instrument was designed to help clinicians estimate the economic aspects of the provision of assistive technology (AT) solutions to individual users. Using the instrument involves three steps: 1) describing the objectives of the individual AT programme 2) establishing the sequence and the timing of all the interventions that form the progr...
Information on technical aids plays an important role in quality improvement of Service Supply to the elderly and the disabled. The paper reviews the Italian computerized data bank on technical aids, whose multilingual access feature can permit information exchange throughout the European countries. Subjects covered include a description of The Eva...