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Selfsustainable Assistive & Accessible
Technology for Low Resource Settings
Catherine Holloway
University College London
London, UK
c.holloway@ucl.ac.uk
Mark Miodownik
University College London
London, UK
m.miodownik@ucl.ac.uk
Ben Oldfrey
University College London
London, UK
b.oldfrey@ucl.ac.uk
Nicolai Marquardt
University College London
London, UK
n.marquardt@ucl.ac.uk
Abstract
There will be over 2 billion people globally who require
assistive technology by 2020 however currently only
10% of people who need such technologies have
access. New ways of creating interfaces which allow for
sustainability for the user and the planet are essential if
we are to ensure no one is left behind. This paper
explores the issues of design and development of
technology in low income settings. It lays out thinking
in three areas: 1) Powering the next generation of AT
;2) Materials for novel disability interactions and 3)
Accessible, adaptable repairable AT.
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CSS Concepts
• Human-centered computing~Human computer
interaction (HCI); Haptic devices; User studies;
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Introduction
The world’s population is ageing, and more people are
living a higher proportion of their lives as people with a
disability. The majority of people living with a disability
are poor and live in low resource settings. In fact, there
is a known link between poverty and disability with
each fueling the other. A quarter of the world’s urban
population live in informal settlements [7], where the
digital and physical infrastructures as sewerage and
electricity and are not guaranteed. These challenging
circumstances impact on people’s quality of life [13].
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CHI 2020 Extended Abstracts, April 25–30, 2020, Honolulu, HI, USA.
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ACM ISBN 978-1-4503-6819-3/20/04.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3334480.XXXXXXX
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Assistive technologies (AT) such as wheelchairs,
hearing aids, prosthetic limbs help a person overcome a
physical sensory or cognitive impairment [14]. The
WHO estimates 2 billion people will need AT by 2050.
However, currently only 10% have access to devices.
HCI has a central role to play in the future design of AT
and accessible digital technologies. The Disability
Interaction Manifesto [5] lays out a path to exploring
how we can learn from and leverage the knowledge
gained from designing with disabled people to develop
new design paradigms and along the way new
materials, devices and experiences.
Within low resource settings, such as informal
settlements, there are increased barriers – a lack of
resources. However, what is often ignored is the
surplus of other resources. People are resourceful,
keeping a practice of repair and recycling going by
necessity. This leads to a highly resourceful workforce
of assistive technology providers in low and middle
income countries [6]. People are also resourceful and
adaptable to new opportunities. This can be seen by the
rapid adoption of mobile technology by people in the
Global South and the number of business opportunities
helped by mobile money.
Therefore digital, especially the next generation digital,
has huge opportunity to overcome the barriers which
disabled people face globally especially people living
with disability in conditions of informality. We identify
three areas of opportunity for selfsutainableHCI within
the space of assistive technology and accessibility, we
do this by presenting thinking in three areas: 1)
Powering the next generation of AT; 2) Materials for
novel disability interactions and 3) Accessible,
adaptable repairable AT. We hope these areas will
provide context for further exploration within the
workshop. which we hope can be further explored
Powering the next generation of AT
Globally we need to reduce our power consumption and
adopt new ways of generating power which reduce the
human impact on the delicate ecosystem of Planet
Earth. Within the domain of AT power consumption can
be produced first by increasing the accessibility of
mainstream products and services thereby negating the
need for the creation of specialist devices. When
needed AT should be designed to create desirable user
experiences. Currently powered devices such as
prosthetics, scoters and wheelchairs are frequently
made to be difficult to use due to the weight of the
power used and a lack of intuitive interface leaving
many users making shorter journeys than they would
like and the power would allow for due to a lack of
confidence and fear of being stranded [9]. The second
issue is that assistive technologies often make use of
off the shelf batteries which are significantly over
specified for the task; in fact the power requirements
for a scooter were only very recently derived [10].
Power is also an issue when it comes to monitoring use
of devices. The liner of a prosthetic device which is the
main interface between the skin and the prosthetic is a
ripe area for smart technology. Skin problems are the
main reason for lack of use of a prosthesis as an
amputated limb cannot dissipate heat effectively. New
devices such as the ‘ubi-sleeve’ are under development
which would monitor temperature, humidity and
prosthesis slippage behavior during everyday prosthesis
wear [12]. However, powering such devices, or devices
such as active cooling systems to help control
temperature would radically improve the quality of life
Figure 1: Typical street in Kibera
Figure 2: Mobile phone stall in
Kibera Kenya (an informal
settlement in Kenya).
of prosthesis users. Similar self-powering materials
could also be extended to the space of exoskeletons,
which is ripe for user-centred design practices [3].
Materials for novel disability interactions
Up until now the advancement of technology has
generally centred around rigid materials, and the ease
with which these materials can be processed and
manufactured. As our technology now more and more
takes up the space at the direct interface with our
bodies, we require a push forward to increase the
capability of our soft material technology. Additive
manufacture is getting close to a state of maturity for
producing product level direct print in rigid materials
that can withstand extreme conditions, however the
production of highly soft complex architectures is
lagging behind. As these new ranges of material
properties become readily available to designers, the
scope for soft active, meta-materials that are highly
suitable for direct skin contact will bring about new
possibilities in the way assistive technology can
interface with the body.
Additionally, the printing of active composite chainmail
fabrics with a range of potential complex surface-based
actuation properties is becoming possible. Responsive
fabrics as a concept is not new but lack of appropriate
actuators, and the considerable challenges of
manufacturing such an actively interdigitated
mechanical system has slowed progress [15]. Ransley
et al. recently introduced a novel type of smart textile
with electronically responsive flexibility. This opens up
the missing requirement of individual actuation at each
linkage point of the chainmail via the use of shape
memory alloys [15].
Figure 3: (a) Design of a shape-controlled chainmail linkage
where the linear couplings on each side both contain a pair of
nested springs, the equilibrium point of which can be adjusted
through heating the internal NiTi coils via Joule heating, with
charge flowing along the path shown in red. A 6 × 2 physical
prototype was fabricated using an SLA 3D printer, and shown
to be electronically reconfigurable between flexible (b) and
rigid (c) states. Reproduced with permission.
Accessible, adaptable repairable AT
The culture in high income countries for AT provision is
one which is very linear and not circular. People simply
throw away or abandon AT which no longer serves their
needs. Abandonment rates are generally accepted to be
around 33% [11]. One issue driving abandonment is
that repair and services are far away from where
people live [1]. However, this is now more possible to
counter given the rise in makerspaces and a growing
movement of makers globally, which is being leveraged
by disabled people to make their own AT [8]. The
differences in approach by traditional prosthetists and
makers are well captured by Hofman et al. [4].
Clinicians looking to prevent harm to the individual
whilst the maker looking to create a movement to
provide AT to all. However, between these two
positions is a space where new technology and
processes can be developed that could give confidence
that no harm would eb done whilst providing greater
access to the millions of people globally living without
AT.
At is often designed with an attitude of one-size-fits-all;
whereas new design paradigms allow for a remixing of
technologies to allow for a one-size-fits-one design
paradigm [5]. What if the shape of a phone could adapt
to a person’s ability to hold it. This would be better for
people with mobility impairments but also good for
everyone as we juggle the holding of multiple devices.
Within high income settings there is often a focus on
design for the individua- as we just stated this would
allow for increased usability for the individual. However,
within low resource settings a new concept could be
introduced – that of design for community use. What if
power could be shared and communities or devices
could be connected to power other devices. This idea
emerges from the ways in which technologies are used
in low resource settings. For example, in an upcoming
paper [2] the ways in which visually impaired people
use mobile phone technology in informal settlements in
Kenya demonstrates that direct interactions between eh
VIP and the phone is only one of a range of interaction
types many of which were ‘supported interactions’.
These supported interactions were enabled by
community members known to the VIP.
Conclusion
We believe that the next generation of AT could be
powered by new materials and interfaces, created using
new methods of manufacture and design, which will
ultimately allow people to personalize their AT and
repair it locally when it breaks.
References
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