MOR-PLAY

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Summary

Contents (hide)

  1. 1. Videos
    1. 1.1 RoboSapien Advance
  2. 2. Team
    1. 2.1 Development
    2. 2.2 Contributors
  3. 3. Publications
  4. 4. Links
The MOR-PLAY Project
Schematic diagram of the MOR-PLAY system.
(click to enlarge)

Assistive technologies play an important role in supporting the every day lives of many children with disabilities. However, the full potential for the creation of practical technological solutions to facilitate play by these children has not yet been realized. This long-term project focuses on the creation of “MOR-PLAY”, a mobile robotic platform to facilitate play by young power wheelchair users.

Our main goal is to allow these young power wheelchair users to control MOR-PLAY using the same interfaces they already use to control their wheelchairs. Thus, the MOR-PLAY project will require the development of a variety of custom control and access strategies.


1.  Videos

1.1  RoboSapien Advance

Michael and I finally got to test the first prototype of the control interface for the RoboSapien (V. 1). This is an intermediate step towards the full-blown MOR-PLAY system. The interface was implemented by hooking up an Atmel AVR microcontroller with Michael’s wheelchair and a GameBoy Advance for feedback. A wireless RF module is used to send the actual commands to RoboSapien. Michael uses his three available head switches (the same set he uses to drive his wheelchair) to control RoboSapien. This allows him to easily switch back and forth between the chair and the robot. You will notice that the GameBoy speaks the available commands as they are browsed. Michael actually suggested this feature so he didn’t have to look at the GameBoy’s screen. The menu to access the commands is still very ineficient though (you have to browse through 50 commands in order to find the one you want!). We are working on a better menu system. Still, I think we are doing pretty good!

2.  Team

2.1  Development

2.2  Contributors

Programming

Artwork

Supporting Institutions

3.  Publications

  1. Silva J., Dzura M., Mihailidis A., and Chau T., “A Theory of Asynchronous Control with Low Information Capacity Interfaces,” in Proceedings of the World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Seoul, Korea, August 2006.

  2. Silva J., McKeever P., Mihailidis A., Chau T., “The ‘MOR-PLAY’ Project: Designing a Robotic Play Tool with Young Power Wheelchair Users,” in Proceedings of the Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth International Conference, Sheffield, UK, July 2006.

4.  Links