FEDER - STARNAV - DOME 6 PROJECT
Kohesio
SARL STAR NAV
Any severe motor disability affecting speech and motor skills of the hands and legs, of various origins (degenerative neurological disease, public road accident leading to quadriplegia, stroke, malformation or rare disease) isolates the person and drastically reduces their autonomy, preventing them from finding or regaining a family, social or even professional position in our current society. In people suffering from a degenerative disease with a serious prognosis, the reduction in mobility, associated with a reduction in cognitive abilities, the increasing difficulty in communicating with the family circle and nursing staff constitutes both a handicap and moral suffering. Maintaining the relationship with the family and the home care team at the end of life is becoming more and more difficult, and has the ultimate consequence of making it impossible to keep the patient at home. In the context of end-of-life support, the need for oral expression (symptoms/complaints, pain, feelings, help, fear) with loved ones or the healthcare team is crucial in the medical and psychological care of patients. This problem concerns certain diseases such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or other neurodegenerative and/or neurovascular diseases which deprive the patient of this essential communication. During the progression of these diseases, maintaining a certain degree of autonomy is essential for patients, and this maintenance can involve controlling the environment through home automation (i.e. light, television, radio, etc.). Communication systems have undergone a revolution in recent decades. Today we communicate with our contemporaries via vectors that were unknown 20 years ago: emails, SMS, blogs, tweets (Bigot, 2012). These new technologies have opened up great prospects for populations of people with physical disabilities. In particular, they have made it possible to significantly improve their autonomy thanks to specific interface systems, technical aids, voice synthesis and recent advances in computerized home automation. However, these tools are generally dedicated to a single use and often remain very expensive. In addition, there persists a lack of access to IT tools and particularly to the Internet, which is a factor of disruption and social isolation. Some studies have also shown that computers have an important role in maintaining professional activities in quadriplegic people (Brocharda, 1987). The wave of touch screens is currently depriving some interested parties of multiple practical functionalities. To meet this need, a contactless man-machine interface solution called HEAD PILOT was developed by the company STARNAV. Based on the analysis of the user's head movements through image processing, this system makes it possible to make any computer device equipped with a webcam accessible. STARNAV took advantage of this technological advance to develop a multimodal system for home automation control, access to communication and access to computer applications and Internet links. The PICTOCOM system thus gives its users open access to the digital world. STARNAV wanted all developments to be carried out in collaboration with disabled people and patients with loss of autonomy as part of a clinical trial plan.
Smarter Europe / Research and innovation / Technology transfer and university-enterprise cooperation primarily benefiting SMEs