User testing and design iteration of the ProVAR user interface

Author

Wagner, J. Joseph ; Wickizer, Michael ; Van der Loos, H. F Machiel ; Leifer, Larry J.

Author_Institution

Rehabilitation R&D Center, VA Palo Alto Health Care Syst., CA, USA

fYear

1999

fDate

1999

Firstpage

18

Lastpage

22

Abstract

The ProVAR (Professional Vocational Assistant Robot) system is designed for use by a person with a high-level physical disability to manipulate physical objects in an office desktop environment and to access the functions of a networked personal computer. Typical objects (e.g., computer media, cups, videotapes, medication, sheets of paper) support vocational tasks and activities of daily living. The ProVAR interface is programmed to platform-independent Web-based software standards, notably HTML, VRML and Java, to facilitate future development efforts and the use of the software by all personal computer users. This paper will discuss recent developments in the interface design and user testing of the first iteration of the interface

Keywords

handicapped aids; manipulators; user interfaces; HTML; Java; PC; ProVAR user interface; Professional Vocational Assistant Robot; VRML; design iteration; high-level physical disability; interface design; networked personal computer; office desktop environment; physical object manipulation; platform-independent Web-based software standards; user testing; Extremities; Grasping; Neck; Protocols; Read only memory; Robots; Spinal cord injury; Testing; Usability; User interfaces;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Robot and Human Interaction, 1999. RO-MAN '99. 8th IEEE International Workshop on

Conference_Location

Pisa

Print_ISBN

0-7803-5841-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ROMAN.1999.900304

Filename

900304