APPROACH TO THE ANALYSIS OF USER REQUIREMENTS IN ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY

Assistive technology plays an important role for independent living of people with special needs. Therefore it is a key issue to identify th e problems that come up in the everyday use of assistive technology. T he analysis of user requirements is one of the most important factors for effective special needs developments. The user involvement in ever y step of the development procedure is meaningful. Especially the expe riences of long-term users are very helpful. In case of new technology prototype testing by users during the development can correct the aim s by giving unexpected inputs. Although some research activities with user involvement are going on, it still needs more concern in industry and appropriate methodologies have to be established. In this paper t wo different examples of user involvement are described with respect t o the different users' experience. As an example of emerging technolog ies the use of a robotic aid is investigated. In this case the analysi s of user requirements is based on tests of available prototypes with users. As an example of already existing technical aids an investigati on of practical user experiences with wheelchairs is described. In bot h cases the experiences of the users are fed back to the development t o achieve real improvement. Our experiences may stimulate researchers and industrialists to initiate user involvement within their activitie s.