Category: Theses

Why technology research needs a network of users

A network of users is a group of people who have agreed to participate regularly in user studies. This enables researchers to have access to users who are representative of a target group of technology in development. User recruitment turns out much quicker and easier for researchers. Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS has its own network of users. Some practice Tai Chi, others prefer to play cards, some have the latest news, others remain faithful to the traditional cell phone, some take care of their grandchildren and the house and those who never miss an opportunity to travel. It is this diversity that makes our user network so special. We get different perspectives that we incorporate to create truly meaningful technology for people.

3000 user research and testing sessions with users

We are happy to have achieved the milestone of 3000 user research and testing sessions!

In the last 7 and a half years, COLABORAR supported 3000 user research activities. Requirements gathering, user interviews, diary studies, prototype testing, card sorting, focus groups, in-person usability studies, surveys and pilot studies are the activities carried out.

The COLABORAR team could not be more glad. We learned many things during this time regarding the recruitment of people for research and testing, as well as about carrying research with users. For the next years, we expect to double this milestone!

Games for bladder incontinence prevention

We have just tested new serious interactive games. These games are focused on pelvic floor muscle training and aim at tackling urinary incontinence, as well as mobility and cognitive impairments.

The games are TV-based and inertial sensors are placed in specific parts of the body to monitor movement in real time. COLABORAR volunteers participated in the testing phase of this project, in which a masters’ student from Multimedia Communication added an important contribution and, on the other side, he used the work within this project as part of his masters’ thesis to submit to the university.

Thank you to all volunteers who participated!

Virtual reality for seniors

COGNISTIM is a new project under development at Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS.

COGNISTIM is a mobile application combined with special glasses and it enables seniors to experience virtual reality through stimulation games. These games were designed to stimulate both physical and cognitive systems of older adults. We have a Master’s student from the University of Coimbra doing his master´s thesis within this project. The student developed the app and now he is testing it with COLABORAR volunteers.

We brought the equipment to a day-care centre and it was amazing to provide older adults with a totally new experience. These tests were great! We hope to introduce more seniors to virtual reality soon!

Interviewing nurses for a project related to pressure ulcers

Pressure ulcers are a complex problem that requires attention from healthcare professionals and caregivers.

Technology may be able to optimize care for patients. With this aim, a new project is underway at Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS. This project is being developed by a Master’s student from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. Patients, informal caregivers, nurses and technical directors of institutions participated in interviews that will be valuable for understanding the complexities of this problem. COLABORAR gave a helping hand in the organization of interviews for this study.

The qualitative analsys of these interviews will enable the student and team to come up with a solution that will facilitate the care to patients with pressure ulcers.

 

 

Tests for a master thesis

In thelast few years, research on activity monitoring and exercises for falls prevention has been developed at Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS. Recently, we have a student who has been developing her master thesis in this area.

Now it’s time to make some tests. COLABORAR recruited a group of volunteers to help us out in this important task. Volunteers participated in this research activity by performing walking exercises.

Thank you to all participants for giving us your time and for being part of the research.

It’s time for field studies

Researchers at Fraunhofer AICOS are working in a new application to be integrated in the SmartCompanion system.

We have in our team a student from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. She is carrying out field work, namely interviews with older adults within her work of user research. The student will be using the insights to build a smartphone application and she is applying human-computer interaction principles in her work, specifically for the elders, since the user interfaces of this app should be simple and easy to read to the user.

We expect to test the prototype with volunteers in the network very soon!

DctivPR web application for visualization of user’s physical activity information tested

DActivPR

Smart Companion, the android customization for smartphones targeting older adults, enables the collection of data related to physical activity. In order to provide an easy and effective way to analyze the data collected, a web application was developed.

Then, tests with possible end-users was carried out so to verify that the user easily catches relevant information from the application. Participants answered to a questionnaire about the habits of the predefined Smart Companion users.

This work was carried out in the scope of the master thesis entitled “DActivPR – Daily Activity Pattern Recognition Tool“.

Master thesis presentation in the area of Social Education

IMG_20171009_153919

In the scope of DEMind, Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS supported a Master’s thesis from the Master Course in Community Intervention – Area of Specialization: Active Ageing, of Escola Superior de Educação de Paula Frassinetti, entitled “Active aging: the support of information and communication technologies and social support networks”. Among Fraunhofer‘s projects, the Exergames was selected, since it is a platform of physical exercise games for older adults, enabling them to stay active, preventing their risk of fall.

Troughout COLABORAR, the ExerGames platform was integrated in the weekly plan of a day-care centre in Porto. Participant observations of the activities enabled the student to collect information regarding the implementation of a new activity for seniors with Information and Communication Solutions. Then, the acceptance of the technology was assessed, as well as its usability and user satisfaction.

Finally, the student presented her work within her Master’s thesis for Fraunhofer‘s researchers. Her study is very interesting because it shows the perspective of the Social Education about the ExerGames in activities for older adults.