Testing Prompting Systems To Increase Employment Opportunities

Assistive Technology Partners (ATP), part of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, has been funded by the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for the Advancement of Cognitive Technologies (RERC-ACT) to develop smart assembly work stations. Imagine! consumers, including some of our SmartHome residents, are helping to test the prototype work stations.

The video below demonstrates the prototype workstation. The workstation “watches” an assembly line person, and can prompt them through the series of steps necessary to complete an assembly line job. Using web cams as its eyes, the work station can determine the activity currently being performed. Using the “work stations eyes” in conjunction with sophisticated Human Robotic Interface (HRI) software, the work station can assess what the next steps are when building an assembly.



The idea behind this project is that a sophisticated prompting system that can react to actions as they happen, and provide appropriate prompts accordingly, will open more doors to employment opportunities for individuals with developmental disabilities and related disabilities.

The system is in the very early development phase, but ATP hopes to begin research testing with the system on a larger scale in 2012.

Easter At The SmartHome

Here are some nice pictures of Easter at the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome in Boulder.

Students Lead The Way For New Assistive Tech

A group of CU Engineering students in a 2011 Spring Semester class taught by Associate Professor Melinda Piket-May are working on projects to design simple adaptive technologies that aid increased independence for some of the folks Imagine! serves, including some residents of our SmartHomes. Below are some videos of the students demonstrating their projects. The videos are short and well worth your time – this is some amazing stuff.

Students demonstrating a Wii Fit board adaptation for wheelchairs:



Students demonstrating a wireless infrared mouse:



Students demonstrating an adaptive stroller:



Students demonstrating a laundry cart wheelchair attachment:



Students demonstrating a computer communication wrist band for those with limited mobility in their hands and arms:



Students demonstrating a magnetic tray:



Thanks to all of the students for their hard work and willingness to make a difference in the lives of those with disabilities. Special thanks to Professor Piket-May for inspiring her students!

Read more and see a video about last year’s projects here.

Donna's Diary - April 2011

Next month, Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome residents Gerald and Donna plan on visiting Sally Sue and Magoo. Who are they? Find out by checking out Donna’s latest online diary entry below.

And click here to see all of Donna’s diary entires.

What a relief. I got my power wheel chair back yesterday. It had been in the shop for repairs, and was fixed by PEAK Wheelchairs. My husband Gerald got a brand new power chair, and we are both excited to have more independence back in our lives.

Last week, we called Gerald’s mom, and we plan to visit them in the next month. We’ll go see mom, dad, and the two dogs, Sally Sue and Magoo. The dogs are both beagles.

On Easter I went to church and then came back home in time to hide Easter eggs. My housemate Rebecca, one of our staff (Caitlin), Gerald, and I colored the eggs together

I’m still working at In Clover putting dog treats in bags on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. On Mondays and Tuesdays I have art and music classes. Both my job and the classes are through Imagine!’s CORE/Labor Source department and I’m happy with my schedule.

Gerald is still working on learning his numbers. He works seven days a week to improve his number recognition. He’s working extra hard because he knows that once he learns his numbers he has a job waiting for him at Twisted Pine Brewery. Speaking of Twisted Pine Brewery, Gerald and I went there last Sunday. There was a fundraiser for the Autism Society of Boulder County so some of what we spent went to a good cause.

As for what’s coming up, in June we’re planning to go to the Millennium Hotel for the Friday Afternoon Club on the 17th. Imagine! will have a booth there, and kids are invited to come to the booth and paint and draw. Gerald and I think we’re going to take the year off from painting during the event and just enjoy the music and socializing. It’s a fun time though, and I hope some of you will join us there.

John At Work

Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome resident John works at EcoCycle in Boulder, paying taxes and spending his hard earned money in the community. Take a look at a few pictures of John hard at work!

John has been asking if we'd come by to get a picture of him working. He's truly proud of his job, and works hard, quickly, and is very efficient.

John at the sheering machine. The machine is sort of a large guillotine with many safety features. It only cuts when the operator has both hands on buttons at the far left and right side of the machine.

You can see the blade slicing through the book. The hard cover is opened up with the front and back cover fanned out away from the blade because if you cut through the hard cover it dulls the blade.

You can't get much closer to the book's binding than John did on this book. It's important to get as close to the glued binding as possible as that way more paper gets recycled.

More Tour News

It has been a busy week for tours!

We mentioned earlier this week about the various people who toured the Charles Family SmartHome in Longmont, including: Tony Shockency, CEO of the Longmont YMCA, Sheridan Wolfe, a Longmont YMCA Executive, Matt Marshall from TetraTech, David Drake and Scott Carter from Digital Data Services, and Dick and Carol Cummings Ken and Jan Alford, who are all grandparents of children with Down syndrome.

We had more people touring later in the week.

On Tuesday, representatives from Minnesota-based Dakota Communities were in town visiting the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome in Boulder.

On Wednesday, some new friends from British Columbia’s Developmental Disabilities Association and Ohio’s Koinonia Homes took the opportunity to see how our SmartHomes are changing lives.

It is so gratifying to know that so many people and organizations, be they local, national, or even international, are looking to our SmartHomes as a blueprint for the future of services for those with developmental disabilities, as well as related disabilities.

If you are interested in touring either of our SmartHomes, just click here to schedule a tour online.

Donna and Gerald – Community Leaders!

Our goal at Imagine! and for our SmartHomes is to provide the individuals we serve with opportunities to become contributing members of their communities. But we know that many of the folks that receive services from us can do so much more – they have tremendous capabilities to become leaders in their communities.

Today, we’d like to share an example of that leadership. Yesterday, Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome residents (and super-cute couple) Donna and Gerald were guest lecturers at two classes at Metropolitan State College of Denver. The classes were for students who were studying to be Special Education teachers.

Gerald and Donna talked about their experiences growing up, what sort of education they received, and of course, discussed living in the SmartHomes and the variety of technologies they were using to become more independent. The students got to see an example of that technology first hand, as Gerald used his DynaVox communication device to share his thoughts and ideas.

The two lecturers were a big hit. Dianne Carroll, a member of Imagine!’s Board of Directors, and the professor who arranged for Donna and Gerald to speak, sent this nice note of thanks (Andrew is the SmartHome support staff member who assisted Donna and Gerald during their lectures):

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!! Donna, Gerald and Andrew were a huge success. My students thought the information was terrific, and the faculty who came to observe had great comments too.

Congratulations to Donna and Gerald – you two are truly inspirational leaders in our communities!