A framework for the construction of mobile applications for users with motor disability due to stroke

Author(s)

Olibario José Machado Neto

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Carlos.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Ciências Matemáticas e de Computação (ICMC/SB)
• Defense date: 2018-05-11

Examining board members

Maria da Graça Campos Pimentel; Renata Pontin de Mattos Fortes; Terigi Augusto Scardovelli; Luciana Aparecida Martinez Zaina

• Advisor: Maria da Graça Campos Pimentel

Abstract

Nowadays, mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are equipped with hardware components that can be used to create solutions that support various activities of people with disabilities. For example, the sensors of a mobile phone in the hand of a user with motor disability can be used to identify movements of that users hand and, then, to move an electric wheelchair. Although the use of mobile devices for the creation of accessibility solutions is deeply explored and documented by many researchers, there still is a lack of infrastructures to facilitate the creation of solutions for users with disabilities by relying on the use of the computational resources of mobile devices. This work presents an Android-native framework that provides libraries for the use and integration of the various resources of these devices, such as sensors, microphone and camera, to assist users with motor disabilities. The framework was proposed based on requirements raised by health professionals who work at a Rehabilitation Center that belongs to the State Hospital of Ribeirão Preto (SP, Brazil), where they rehabilitate users with hemiparesis due to stroke. Applications using the proposed infrastructure have been implemented as proofs of concept that demonstrate the possibility of creating solutions that use and integrate the main components of mobile devices in order to assist the rehabilitated users. Although the scope of requirements of our project is limited to people who have had stroke, tests performed with software developers of different levels of experience have shown that the framework speeds up the implementation of diverse solutions, including the ones for people without disabilities. The framework, which can be adapted for different operating systems, has been implemented to help build applications for the Android operating system. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/01831-6 - An architecture to improve the accessibility of applications of mobile devices used by users with motor disabilities
• Grantee: Olibario Jose Machado Neto
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate