Assistive Technology

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Introduction - ICT as a Technology enabler:
All technologies a can be considered as augmentative or assistive in that they provide enhanced capability to perform a task or operation.
As a general principle the following components are involved in technology applications
• Energy storage → transformation → actuation aspects,
• Materials science,
• Intelligent control → processing power → communications,
• Sensory and detection aspects.

ICT stands for Information and Communications technologies and is generally understood to apply to computer hardware, computer software, and telecommunication technologies.
Assistive Technologies (AT) concern the practical tools that can support functional needs of people who experience difficulties linked to disability or ageing. It encompasses a broad spectrum of low tech and high tech technologies, for example, walking frames, wheelchairs, hearing aids, vision aids and computer-based communication aids
As a simple example of an assistive technology: - a wheelchair may have a battery plus an electric motor for energy storage / transformation, steel and fabric in combination for comfort and durability, a mercury switch tilt sensor to determine if it has been upended, microprocessor and support circuitry, alarm output or remote alert if tilt sensor is triggered (supported by necessary software coding algorithms).
Following the wheel chair example – earlier designs were human power with no battery or motor. (Later designs have motor drive but very simple control via a manual joystick). More recent designs have sensor technology for fail safe and more sophisticated control with software. Direction of evolution is to add communications technology to the sensor and control circuit so that an...

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... act to widen the availability of key applications.
Increasing computing power of mobile phones will allow more powerful applications (text to speech etc).

It is possible that Robotics as technology supplemented by Artificial intelligence could become mainstream over next 10 years. Advances with driverless cars (assisted driving) indicate a wider acceptance of this type of technology with automatic parking and lane control now an accepted standard on some models
AT will also continue to benefit from medical device innovation in field of nano science, material science, miniaturisation). Integration of machines and biologicals (artificial liver, heat pump assist, 3d printed organs are all potential advancers which vary in scope from the assistive technology to fully regenerative. It is not possible to predict with any degree of accuracy which one will scale first

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