Mobility Impaired People Research Articles

A smart KPI system for reinforcing sustainable urban mobility plans under pandemic crises

The latest worldwide application of social distancing measures highlighted dramatic effects on the daily life, mobility, well-being, mental health, and economic activity of citizens during the pandemic. Unfortunately, societies were unprepared to confront a pandemic and applied movement restriction measures, often harsh and unbalanced, creating confusion, uncertainty, and annoyance to communities. In this paper, we reviewed a wide array of databases to categorise the mobility management measures implemented internationally in response to the social distancing restrictions that had to be taken during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, to comprehensively assess the measures implemented to contain the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of the local community, we conducted focus group interviews with specific population groups that may have been affected to a greater extent. These groups consisted of vulnerable road users, such as mobility-impaired people and people who are facing severe health problems, representatives of the local economy and businesses and representatives of institutional stakeholders and policymakers. Our research showed that in the post-pandemic era, accessibility and not mobility should be at the heart of economic and social welfare. At the same time, the assurance of physical activity, which is strongly associated with the mental health of citizens, and the protection of the local economy are issues of outermost importance. However, local authorities were unprepared to manage these issues and often made fragmented and punitive decisions. By recognising the need for a regional or metropolitan emergency mechanism, this study aims to introduce a new system of indicators specifically adapted to the particularities and challenges encountered during the pandemic, accounts for local communities' unique needs and requirements, and complies with the general principles of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs). In the future, the SUMP methodology should be revised to be able to handle and manage mobility systems under pandemic conditions.

Museums for Older Adults and Mobility-Impaired People: Applying Inclusive Design Principles and Digital Storytelling Guidelines—A Review

The research problems addressed in this article pertain to the limited understanding and insufficient availability of digital storytelling guidelines for elderly and physically impaired individuals in museum presentations. The objective of this review is to explore digital storytelling guidelines along with the latest technology in museums catering to older adults and those with mobility impairments. This literature review included databases such as Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar, covering the period from 2000 to 2023. Researchers comprehensively examined and employed content analysis to categorize all papers into three primary themes: (1) inclusive design for museum presentations; (2) trends in technology for digital storytelling in museum presentations; (3) guidelines for digital storytelling in museum presentations. This review article could enhance understanding and promote diversity, accessibility, and motivation among two specific groups of museum visitors, both onsite and online.

A smart walker based on a hybrid motion model and machine learning method

Due to the degeneration of musculoskeletal structure and strength, the elderly population is facing significant mobility challenges. Walkers are widely used for mobility-impaired people. In this research, a smart walker has been developed by using a hybrid motion model (HMM) and a machine learning model based on the vertical interaction force to match the velocity between the walker and its user, which can reduce the horizontal interaction force thus to help lower the operational effort. It is equipped with only force sensors on the handlebars as a human-robot interface. The human motion is modeled by using the HMM in which an inverted pendulum model is used in the single support phase and a constant velocity model is used in the double support phase. A novel gait phase detector is built based on a machine learning method to correlate the force information and the walking gait phases. Experiments with three subjects are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the gait phase detection method and the hybrid motion model. The results demonstrate that the walker can accurately identify gait phases with more than 90 % accuracy and the horizontal interaction force is reduced to around 50 % of that under the constant velocity model and power-off condition when using the HMM during walking.

Mobility-impaired people’s preferences for a specialized paratransit service as BRT’s feeder: The role of autonomy, relatedness, and competence

Transportation is a very important element in the well-being of mobility-impaired people. However, people with disabilities often struggle to access transportation services at all, especially if they live in mountain areas. This study is aimed at better understanding the main factors that affect the preferences for a new specialized paratransit service as BRT’s feeder to serve the portion of the trip that mobility-impaired people cannot manage. We hypothesized that in addition to some observable attributes of the transportation services, such as time and travel cost, mobility-impaired people’s preferences for a specialized paratransit service as BRT’s feeder could be better explained by using a hybrid discrete choice model based on the Self-Determination Theory (SDT). We gathered responses through a stated-preference survey (N = 350), in which respondents faced a series of choice situations among three BRT feeder alternatives: bus, cable car and a new specialized service. We also obtained indicator ratings through a basic psychological needs satisfaction scale to identify the latent variables in relation to the SDT. Modeling results supported our hypothesis that the preferences of mobility-impaired people are better explained by considering the three innate psychological needs. We found empirical evidence linking the components of the SDT, i.e. Autonomy, Relatedness, and Competence, with preferences for the specialized transportation service as BRT’s feeder in the study context. The multipliers of values of time savings derived from the model showed that mobility-impaired people place access time four times more important than travel time. We accounted for the heterogeneity in value of travel time savings and found that the greater the autonomy in mobility-impaired people the greater their sensitivity to the specialized transportation service’s fare. We concluded that Autonomy, Relatedness, and Competence play an important role in the preferences of mobility-impaired people. Autonomy is a determining factor in perception of alternative fares. Competence motivates mobility-impaired people to use the specialized paratransit service as BRT’s feeder, while Relatedness motivates mobility-impaired people to use the same transportation alternatives used by others.

DeepBrain

With the recent advancements of electroencephalograph (EEG) techniques, some brain-computer interface (BCI) solutions have been explored to assist individuals performing various tasks with their minds. One promising application is to combine BCI with robotic systems so that the mobility-impaired people can control robots to take care of themselves. Towards this ultimate goal to design BCIs for mobility-impaired, we firstly conducted an online survey with 54 mobility-impaired participants who barely had previous experience with BCI to identify the challenges they face in life for the purpose of designing a personalized BCI system in need. The results revealed these challenges including small daily tasks (such as feeding and cleaning), which weigh on the financial burdens of hiring a caregiver. Meanwhile, the off-the-shelf high-fidelity BCIs are often expensive, whereas the cheaper devices only collect coarse-grained signals, preventing practical application in care aids due to lack of temporal resolution and accuracy. Based on the survey findings, we then designed DeepBrain, a human-centered learning augmented BCI system, that requires only coarse-grained brain signals with low-cost BCI equipment, but supports fine-grained brain-robot interaction and scalable multi-robot collaboration for domestic multi-task operations. A follow-up system comparison with other approaches show that the proposed human-centered solution is a promising step towards the ultimate goal, as it achieves satisfactory accuracy with less low computation resources. Also the practical brain to multi-robot interaction system validates the feasibility of our framework and model used in DeepBrain.

Fostering Accessible Tourism: Stakeholders’ perspective in Vila do Conde and Póvoa de Varzim

Nowadays, tourism is considered an important social phenomenon, stimulating the mobility of millions of tourists around the world. Accessible tourism is becoming increasingly visible and is considered a growing market segment. For this, it is essential to adapt infrastructures, making them fully accessible. This research seeks to raise awareness in the tourism sector for the creation of accessibility conditions necessary and aimed at all types of demand. In this way, it is intended to deepen the knowledge about Accessible Tourism, as well as evaluate, on the supply side, the awareness and consciousness of the importance of this segment and ascertain whether Vila do Conde and Póvoa de Varzim, meet all the necessary conditions to receive these tourists. This study adopts a qualitative approach with the application of interviews to seven entities, representative of the supply in the destinations, dealing daily with mobility impaired people. The main results show that, despite Accessible Tourism being an increasingly important market segment for the tourism industry, the existing tourism offer in the cities of Vila do Conde and Póvoa de Varzim (North of Portugal), is not yet fully aware and adapted to receive and serve people with reduced mobility.

Appliance Control with IOT-Arduino of Voice Command Detection for Mobility Impaired People

People with physical mobility disabilities experience limited ability to perform daily routine. Integration between home appliances and Internet of Thing (IoT) can be used to support these people. The technology allows tasks to be performed much more easily and enable access to applications and services that would be a challenge with existing digital user interfaces. However, the developed system that is commercially available is costly and equipped with highly specific interfaces which may require considerable technical competency to conduct system interfacing. The purpose of this study is to develop a low cost IOT system for voice-enabled lamp control by utilizing Google Assistant that is available in commercial Android based mobile devices, allowing user to operate lighting appliances without moving. Personal assistance using Google platform embedded with Arduino microcontroller, ESP8266-based NodeMCU development board and integrated Blynk application allow for remote monitoring capability. The system is remotely controlled from a tablet or smartphone to assist disabled people with restricted mobility, in particular those with lower limb disabilities. The system had been tested and demonstrated that the lamp control can be easily accessed by voice command that is then validated using voice pitch analyzer. Test result indicated that capability of the integrated voice control system is verified up to a maximum distance of 24.5 meter, making it a potential implementation in any customized smart home or room system for people with mobile disability.

User-Environment Interaction: The Usability Model for Universal Design Assessment.

Universal Design (UD) aims to provide designed environments that allow users to fully participate in all kinds of activities. Especially, the design of Sport and Leisure buildings should support and encourage the participation of mobility and sensory impaired people in any physical and social activity. Yet, the variety of physical and social users' needs calls for different approaches to investigate, analyze and assess how the environment fulfills users' needs and expectations. This paper presents a new analytical model that: a) investigates how people with mobility, visual, and hearing impairments interact with specific architectural features; b) links the examined user-environment interaction with the user's personal assessment of the spatial experience. The study employs the literature review of the existing analytical models, which are based on the concept of user-environment interaction and framed around empirically deducted basic human needs. These models address the issue of user-environment fit by focusing on the identification of environmental barriers. Also, some of these models are too descriptive and cannot inform the practice in creative design processes. The proposed analytical model, which is built upon the theoretical concepts of affordances and usability, aims to develop a qualitative evaluation method for identifying environmental facilitators by linking the design of architectural characteristics with the influenced perception of users of the physical and social aspects of the built environment. The model consists of three groups of elements: (1) users' physical abilities; (2) architectural features and (3) usability criteria. The inter-relations of each element across the groups develop the narrating scenarios that can be investigated from the user's perspective. This new model does not only advance the understanding of the spatial experiences of persons with mobility and sensory impairments but also offers new insights for exploring UD solutions by identifying the architectural features that enlarge the spectrum of possible user-environment interactions.

Organization and Arrangement of Social Centers for Women in Challenging Situations

The purpose of this research is to justify the necessity of multidimensional women crisis center arrangement. Women in modern society are the most vulnerable to challenging situations in life. This situation is supported by the cultural patterns in the society, financial and legal insecurity of married women. The analysis of the current situation in Russia showed that there is public awareness is low and the number of crisis centers that help overcome life challenges is small in the country. Currently, there is no uniform statistical database of all persons suffering from domestic violence, no correlations found between the crisis center arrangement standards and the population size of cities. This research states and solves the following problems: studying the medical and psychological aspects of architectural solution impacts on people’s health, analyzing crisis center arrangement from the point of view of sociology, studying the experience of Russian and foreign crisis center designs, inspecting the existing center premises, determining their pluses and minuses in operation, analyzing various social center layout options. Based on the performed analysis of the experimental project, the authors formulated the basic principles for crisis center design. First of all, it is necessary to determine the current demand for the center’s services in the city, as well as center funding opportunities. The preferred option shall be multidimensional centers with temporary accommodation functions. The center territory must be divided into private rest zones and public areas, and the visitors must be classified depending on the purpose of their visit, e.g. consultations or classes. There must be separate rooms for center residents and the employees. Creating a positive living environment - the architecture of center buildings must be in harmony with the surrounding area, and the interiors must use balanced, non-aggressive forms and green plants to reduce visitors’ stress levels. Mobility-impaired people must have easy access to the crisis center premises by installing special equipment for visitors with disabilities. The research confirmed that it is necessary to establish multidimensional help centers for women in challenging situations and demonstrated the importance of developing universal principles for architectural and planning solutions used in such centers. This article is the first one in a series of crisis center research aimed at the study of the impact of architectural solutions on the health and psychological state of women in challenging situations.

Cable Railway as Component of Accessible Environment

This article presents a systemic analysis method. Students must form project thinking in designing an accessible urban environment. This method is demonstrated via intercomplementary aspects. The social aspect is shown via the consideration of program requirements for mobility-impaired people. The nature and climate aspect is shown via the consideration of the monsoon climate in Vladivostok in winter. The city-building aspect is shown via the priority of ensembles when environmental facilities are introduced. The architectural aspect is shown via the comprehensiveness and multi-functional character of the suggested space. The economic aspect is demonstrated via the proposal of possible services in the designed space at the state and private levels. The cultural aspect is demonstrated via the aesthetic perception of the content of the environmental design of the suggested facility. That being said, the research took into consideration the requirements of composition design, city-building architecture, and transport engineering. The authors show an example of the inclusion of the requirements from the current respective regulations in place in Russia in the project work. The integrated treatment of all these aspects is shown in the project result. The result is a draft-project for a transport communication node uniting public, service, and production infrastructure.

Locating transport sector responsibilities for the wellbeing of mobility-challenged people in Aotearoa New Zealand

Introductionwellbeing is a central tenet in the Aotearoa New Zealand government's Transport Outcomes Framework. Yet considerations of how place mediates diverse opportunities for wellbeing seldom identify how decision-making on transport and pedestrian infrastructure affects these opportunities. Considering the lived realities of older people and people with disabilities with a specific focus on Indigenous people, we argue it is particularly important to identify the role infrastructure plays in enhancing or undermining wellbeing for diverse communities. We also highlight state or sector responsibility for neglectful, wellbeing-diminishing infrastructure. Methodswe ground this argument in community-based participatory research findings of qualitative interviews conducted at home and during neighbourhood walks with 62 older or mobility impaired people in socio-demographically diverse neighbourhoods in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. The interviews explore community perceptions of mobility and wellbeing as experienced through the losses, stresses and joys of everyday life contexts and places. Resultswe find that people seek experiences of beauty, joy, belonging, fitness, and sociality when going out, but the pursuit of these are curtailed by significant infrastructural impediments with attendant emotional costs, burdens, and risks. Historical decisions shape contemporary possibilities for wellbeing in place, and historical infrastructural injustices impacting on transport and mobility particularly affect Indigenous people's opportunities for mobility-based wellbeing. Conclusiondrawing on place-specific history and experiences of risk, we shift focus from individualized capacities to live well to conceptualizing wellbeing at a collective level, exploring place-based possibilities for a good life. These elaborations allowed us to identify signs of policy and practice abandonment and neglect, and articulate a vision for more inclusive, equitable transport infrastructure that enables the wellbeing of people differently challenged by urban environments.

Towards the Development of a Brain Semi-controlled Wheelchair for Navigation in Indoor Environments

Several technological advancements emerged providing the technical assistance supporting people with special needs in tackling their everyday tasks. Particularly, with the advancements in cost-effective Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI), they can be very useful for people with disabilities to improve their quality of life. This paper investigates the usability of low-cost BCI for navigation in an indoor environment, which is considered one of the daily challenges facing individuals with mobility impairment. A software framework is proposed to control a wheelchair using three modes of operations: brain-controlled, autonomous and semi-autonomous, taking into consideration the usability and safety requirements. A prototype system based on the proposed framework was developed. The system can detect an obstacle in the front, right and left sides of the wheelchair and can stop the movement automatically to avoid collation. The usability evaluation of the proposed system, in terms of effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction, shows that it can be very helpful in the daily life of the mobility impaired people. An experiment was conducted to assess the usability of the proposed framework using the prototype system. Subjects steered the wheelchair using the three different operation modes effectively by controlling the direction of motion.

Analysis of movement of persons with disabilities during evacuation by lift

Abstract Lifts are indispensable for the evacuation of mobility-impaired people from buildings in case of emergency. It is necessary to quantify the movement parameters of these people and describe the entire process using a suitable algorithm. The aim of the research was to quantify the times and speeds of movement for a person using a wheelchair and for an injured person. An experiment in situ was used. During the experiment, arrivals at the lift, cabin entries, and exits were monitored. The results include the times and speeds of a mobility-impaired person's movement. The experiments showed that a person using a wheelchair was slower than an injured person. The results can be used to expand computational models to account for the possibility of using lifts for evacuation.

The Study of Two Novel Speech-Based Selection Techniques in Voice-User Interfaces

The voice-based technology is a promising alternative input modality to the conventional computer input devices, such as keyboards and mice. For mobility-impaired people who cannot use the traditional computer input devices, a voice-based interactive solution is highly desirable. Although some grid-based cursor control systems that use speech recognition show potentials, they come with limitations in processing time and difficulties in real-time applications. Since they are not natural enough to use, it is very slow to drill down the grid, and the point cursor selection range is prone to errors, and people need a more efficient and natural choice. To address these limitations, this paper proposes two novel speech-based target selection techniques: grid-based region selection (hereinafter referred to as “Region Selection”) and grid-based target search (hereinafter referred to as “Target Search”). Region Selection allows users to select targets directly using the selected area. Target Search permits users to move the cursor to a target in a specified direction. Experiments are designed and conducted to analyze the impacts of target size and target density on performance and processing time. The experimental results and comparison study with traditional solution show that both Region Selection and Target Search improve the participants’ accuracy of target selection and reduce the processing time, especially for small targets.

A Human-assistive Robotic Platform with Quadrupedal Locomotion.

Mobility impairment is becoming a challenging issue around the world with a rapid increase on aging population. Existing tools of walking assistance for mobility-impaired people include passive canes or wheeled rollators which increase energy consumption on the users and disturb the users' walking rhythm, and powered wheeled chairs which could preclude the muscle activities and accelerate the degeneration of the lower limbs. The research in this paper aiming at helping mobility-impaired people proposes a novel robotic platform with quadrupedal locomotion. With motorized actuation, the quadruped robotic platform could accompany the user at the center and provide protection and possible walking assistance if needed. As the robotic platform is equipped with a leg locomotion, it can enlarge the user's activity environments, such as both indoor flat floor and outdoor uneven terrain. It can even assist the user to involve in some mobility challenging activities, such as climbing stairs. In this paper, we illustrate the mechanical design of the robotic platform. A continuous gait planning is proposed to create a smooth locomotion for the robot. To quantify the performance, a system-level walking experimentation was conducted, and the results showed that quadruped robotic platform can maintain a statically stability which demonstrate the feasibility and capability of the robotic application for walking assistance.

Hospitality co-creation with mobility-impaired people

This study aims to analyze and construct the hospitality value co-creation system of dining services for mobility-impaired persons (MIPs) by using a specific technological platform in small and medium restaurants (SMRs). The hospitality industry should take action to provide improved services to MIPs. The service-dominant logic, the methodology of service experience engineering, and research approaches in ethnography, content analysis, action research, and service design were applied to implement a hospitality co-creation service system. The result is shown in quality function deployment (QFD). The Friendly Restaurant app was developed by a social enterprise working with MIPs and SMR operators to improve the dining experience of MIPs in SMRs guided by QFD. This app comes from the hospitality co-creation system to offer a list of barrier-free restaurants, menu design, information on accessible facilities, and taxi services for various types of MIPs.

A Systemic View on Autonomous Vehicles

Over the past few years, many studies have provided detailed descriptions of the potential benefits associated with the introduction of autonomous vehicles, such as improvements in traffic flows, local and global emissions, traffic safety, cost efficiency of public and private transport operations, etc. Additionally, the mobilization of mobility-impaired people and the independent car use of travelers without a driver’s license have been identified as potential benefits for users. However, merely estimating the benefits of these direct (or first-order) effects is unlikely to show the full picture of the consequences that will emerge once autonomous vehicles enter the roads. In this paper, we therefore put emphasis on discussing systemic (or second-order) effects. The paper presents a conceptual exploration of these effects based on literature and research findings to date. We show that these systemic effects have the potential – especially in urban areas and without adequate policy intervention – to eliminate at least some of the benefits initially associated with autonomous vehicles. Following this systemic view on autonomous vehicles, we discuss policy aspects for responsible authorities and planners on how to prepare transportation systems for the challenges related to the introduction of autonomous vehicles, and conclude with areas of research that seem highly important in terms of further investigation in this context.

A simulation study of commuting alternatives for day care centres

In Flanders (Belgium), Mobility impaired people need to travel frequently from their homes to a Day Care Centre (DCC). Currently this is done by subsidised bus services but recently a decision was made to cancel these subsidies. The fare the DCC guests will have to pay for transport by bus is too high for most of them.This paper investigates a solution where voluntary drivers bring as many DCC guests as possible to the DCC by carpooling. These drivers can pick up and drop off DCC guests along the way to their work location or any other destination.In general it turns out to be impossible to drive all the DCC guests to the DCC by carpooling. The remaining DCC guests will be picked up by dedicated buses. The goal is to keep the bus travel cost as low as possible. The solution is constrained by car capacities, time windows for both drivers and DCC guests, upper bounds for detours and the availability of intermediate transfer locations. The main challenge is the involvement of multiple transportation service providers. Some of these are not under the control of the consultant in charge of finding an efficient solution for the DCC and hence, their operation and cost cannot be included in the objective function. Solving the problem requires consideration of several cases each leading to a heavy combinatorial computation.Although it seems to be impossible to find a carpool solution in which all the passengers reach the DCC, the results are promising. In several cases four or more chartered buses can be saved on. However, average results show a saving around one to two chartered buses which represents a cost reduction between 20% and 30%.

The Importance of Educational Level and Occupation to Adjustment to Disability Among Mobility Impaired People

Every disability results in array of reactions ranging from negative affectivity to successful acceptance of disability among mobility impaired people. Previous studies suggest that educational level and occupation are potential variables affecting adjustment to disability but there is a lack of research analysing how these variables are related to individual’s reactions to disability.
 The aim of the study was to assess the importance of educational level and occupation to adjustment to disability among mobility impaired people.
 The study sample included 275 mobility impaired individuals, aged between 18 and 79. Their adjustment to disability was assessed using two questionnaires: 1) Reactions to Impairment and Disability Inventory (Livneh & Antonak, 1990), measuring six emotional reactions to disability: denial, depression, internalized anger, externalized hostility, acknowledgement and adjustment; 2) Acceptance of disability scale (Linkowski, 1971).
 The results revealed that individuals with higher educational level reported less internalized anger and externalized hostility compared to individuals with lower educational level. In addition, employed individuals expressed less depression and internalized anger and greater adjustment than unemployed individuals. Individuals who were students at the time reported less depression and greater denial, acknowledgement and adjustment to disability compared to those who were unemployed. Students also perceived greater externalized hostility than employed individuals. The results of linear regression indicated that employment and student status but not disability related variables significantly explained the variance of acceptance of disability.

Modeling of natural sit-to-stand movement based on minimum jerk criterion for natural-like assistance and rehabilitation

Designing a sit-to-stand (STS) assistive system that mimics the normal transfer is important for improving the quality of life for elderly and mobility impaired people while reducing the burden on the caregivers. This paper presents a robotic-based STS assisting system that can provide assistance at the shoulder and the buttock. The minimum jerk criterion is used to model the natural STS motion. Anthropometry and characteristics of the natural STS motion are used to increase the simplicity and applicability of the STS motion model. This model can generate the shoulder and hip trajectories during STS. This enables the system to provide assistance either at the upper trunk or at the upper trunk and the hip simultaneously without inducing abnormal motion kinematics. The assisting system is used to assist subjects with different heights using the trajectories generated by the proposed motion model. In addition, the proposed trajectory is compared to the one that is resulted from a commercial lifter. The results show that the proposed method can accurately replicate the natural STS motion and results in a lower interaction force. Moreover, the subjects are more satisfied when they are assisted using the proposed method as indicated by the results of the post-experiment questionnaire.