In this semester's assistive technology class, my groupmates and I were paired with an Occupational Therapist who deals almost exclusively with stroke patients. After field research and interaction with some of her patients, our goals were clear:
- Create a system or tool allowing therapists (and patients) to monitor their progress.
- Make this system or tool more adult-oriented (less like a children's toy).
- Develop a working prototype within two months.
One of our initial ideas adapted the traditional peg-board that is often found in OT offices:
After our presentation to the class (and some positive feedback), we decided to dive a bit deeper into the monitoring aspect of the project. The pegboard catered to the adult-oriented part of the problem but lacked a means for tracking progress. The next day we found a new direction:
The proposed armband will house an iPod Touch (an iPhone is simply heavier) which reads and records a patient's movement utilizing the device's accelerometer. The iPod Touch would dump the data online and be available to both the patient and the OT.
Simple, right?