We are very happy to announce we have been able to set up the system at Roessingh Research and Development and we are actually in the process of performing patient testing.

In the movies on Instagram (Movie 1, Movie 2), we will not show any of the actual patients due to privacy reasons, but  you can see two Enhance researchers working with the integrated system in the new location.

Before Christmas, there was a harsh overnight burglary where a lot of our equipment was stolen. The pictures below clearly show the bricks they used to smash through the windows and the mess they made.

We were forced to order new equipment.  It’s pretty specialized, so we figured it would take more time than was actually available, with the project ending January 31st, 2019. Therefore, we submitted an amendment for a two months extension. This would enable us to set up a new system and actually perform some patient testing. Fortunately, the amendment was granted within a day! (The day before the Christmas break, I think we all wanted to get it over with :))

In other good news, we have been able to rebuild the system and set it up at a different location for patient testing. We say this casually, but it actually means the system is robust enough to disassemble, transport and set up in a different location again, something we feared for a long time would be not be happening within the project’s timeframe.

We are really proud of everyone in the project who put in the extra mile to act swiftly for all the decisions necessary for the amendment, ordering new machinery and putting in all the extra effort in rebuilding the system. A big thank you to all!

And now for something completely different…. on to the patient testing!

We are pleased to announce we have the integrated system up and running.  Click here to see the short instagram movie.

The integrated system makes it possible to look at an object and have the robotic arm, wrist and glove module assist you in picking it up and putting it in a bowl or on the table.

The support system will know what to do because of the gaze and intention recognition developed within the project. It will recognize the object and then, by looking at the surroundings will know whether to leave it, pick it up and drop it, or pick it up and pour it. This way, in the future, the system will assist you in making breakfast or performing day to day tasks.

At the moment we are working on setting up the system to be able to perform the patient testing with it.

During Rehab Week London, the enhance project presented a session on the results of the project so far. An audience of about 80 people were attending the session.

Bart Koopman started the session with his talk Assistive technology for people with limited mobility

He was followed by Aldo Faisal on Multi-Modal Gaze-Control for Robotic Restoration of Movement Part 1, Part 2,

Gerdienke Prange presented the results of the first user tests in Validation of the eNHANCEgaze-controlled arm support systems: User views from stroke

Jackie Pitchforth ended the session with her presentation on Usability of the eNHANCE device in the adolescent DMD population: Lessons Learnt.

Afterwards there were questions and further informal discussion, which we thought was really useful.

Thanks to Jaap for organizing the session and to all who made this possible.

The ‘user requirement identification phase’ has been completed by September 2015. To find out what the needs and wishes of our users are, we’ve done literature searches, sent out a questionnaire and held focus groups. In the United Kingdom (UK), individuals with Duchenne Muscular Dystrpohy (DMD) took part in the focus groups and in the Netherlands stroke survivors and their carers participated with the questionnaires and focus groups.

As the main findings, first of all, the key concepts of the eNHANCE project (e.g. intention detection, personalization and motivation) were well received in the focus groups held in the UK and the Netherlands. Furthermore, both populations highlighted that they do want to use an assistive device, if there is proper balance between how much it will benefit them and how much effort is needed to use it. Also, the eNHANCE system must add possibilities to perform preferred activities of daily life. The user requirements have carefully been translated into functional requirements. These requirements now serve as input for the technical partners collaborating in the project to determine the specifics of the device’s design.

The combination of DMD and stroke as two user groups in one project, and the corresponding differences between the two populations, presents some interesting challenges for the project partners. Currently, these challenges are being faced by technical partners developing the first version of the eNHANCE system. As a next step, we are looking forward to the iterative usability testing of the first phase arm support and the first phase hand support of the eNHANCE system, which will run in 2016.

We would like to thank all the participants who provided us with the great amount of input!