title: LEGO Mindstorms NXT for elderly and visually impaired people in need: A platform.
abstract: This paper presents the employment of LEGO Mindstorms NXT robotics as core component of low cost multidisciplinary platform for assisting elderly and visually impaired people. LEGO Mindstorms system offers a plug-and-play programmable robotics toolkit, incorporating construction guides, microcontrollers and sensors, all connected via a comprehensive programming language. It facilitates, without special training and at low cost, the use of such device for interpersonal communication and for handling multiple tasks required for elderly and visually impaired people in-need. The research project provides a model for larger-scale implementation, tackling the issues of creating additional functions in order to assist people in-need. The new functions were built and programmed using MATLAB through a user friendly Graphical User Interface (GUI). Power consumption problem, besides the integration of WiFi connection has been resolved, incorporating GPS application on smart phones enhanced the guiding and tracking functions. We believe that developing and expanding the system to encompass a range of applications beyond the initial design schematics to ease conducting a limited number of pre-described protocols. However, the beneficiaries for the proposed research would be limited to elderly people who require assistance within their household as assistive-robot to facilitate a low-cost solution for a highly demanding health circumstance.
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Technical Sciences, German Jordanian University, Amman, Jordan.
authors.forename: Ala'aldeen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Al-Halhouli
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Medical Sciences, German Jordanian University, Amman, Jordan.
authors.forename: Hala
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Qitouqa
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Medical Sciences, German Jordanian University, Amman, Jordan.
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Malkosh
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Technical Sciences, German Jordanian University, Amman, Jordan.
authors.forename: Alaa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shubbak
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Medical Sciences, German Jordanian University, Amman, Jordan.
authors.forename: Samer
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Al-Gharabli
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Medical Sciences, German Jordanian University, Amman, Jordan.
authors.forename: Eyad
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hamad
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D005853:Geriatrics; D006801:Humans; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012656:Self-Help Devices; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D019987:Persons with Visual Disabilities
keywords: LEGO Mindstorms NXT; MATLAB; elderly; healthcare; visually impaired