ARCHIE-an essential component in mechatronic aids for the disabled

ARCHIE (A Reliable Computer Human Interaction Environment) is a 3 year project to develop a general solution to improving the reliability of human-computer interaction and to demonstrate the benefits. The project is funded under the European Commission (EC) Open Microprocessor Systems Initiative (OMI) and involves a consortium of developers including the University of Dundee (UK), GEC-Marconi Avionics (UK), Computer Resources International (Denmark), Bertin et Cie (France), Sofreavia/CENA (France), and the CAA/DRA (UK). The ARCHIE software kernel runs in parallel with the existing user interface of any application. Its role is to monitor the operator, the environment and the current state of the application and on the basis of this to offer advice to the user which will dynamically improve the reliability of the interaction across the human-computer interface. A further feature is the offer of advice to the human on the use of alternative input devices and prediction of a possible error situation (which may prevent errors before they become serious)