Objective
The MATS project offers the opportunity of a significant advance in the 'state-of-the-art' in the field of rehabilitation robotics. An affordable solution capable of combining and significantly improving upon the benefits of current static-, wheelchair-mounted-, and employment-assistive robots will be produced and evaluated with user-groups at several key centres throughout Europe. MATS has huge potential to dramatically improve the quality of life for many disabled and elderly people by supporting their integration into society and the workplace. The use of well-proven existing technology together with a modular design will enable MATS to work for many hours each day performing a wide array of household and work-based tasks. The potential for this extended usage will make MATS an attractive economically viable option for service providers throughout the world.
DESCRIPTION OF WORK
The MATS project will bring to the field of rehabilitation and assistive technology a previously unattainable level of support for disabled and elderly people with special needs in their homes, in their places of work and recreation. The revolutionary design concept of the MATS system will provide flexible mechatronic assistive technology with functions and features satisfying the expressed desires and priorities of a broad spectrum of potential users. The design of the system and its components will draw on novel but proven and reliable technology with hardware and software concepts and components selected and developed by the leaders in their respective fields. User requirements will drive the research and development processes in the project with continual user-evaluation and peer-review of the results obtained at every stage. Public presentations to disseminate the available information will maintain public interest. Every relevant aspect of the lives and environments of potential users will be explored in detail by acknowledged experts in their field. Medics, therapists and psychologists will contribute to the process of eliciting and evaluating the views and expectations of the end-users who can benefit most from the application of the MATS system. The results of this user-requirements study will be used to generate functional and performance specifications for the system's components, which will then be designed and manufactured to satisfy the users' needs. A great deal of functional flexibility and versatility will be derived from the use of software and the integration of the system into 'smart home' environments. When the system has been developed and tested, end-users will have the opportunity to evaluate it in real-world situations.
MILESTONES
The implementation of an effective and efficient project management system. Detailed Project Brief and Specification following the User-requirements study. Conceptual designs, simulations and fully functioning prototypes of all the MATS components. Technical and Safety Evaluation reports and CE-marking of the final systems. A viable and effective plan for further development, exploitation and dissemination of the results of the project.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftware
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicinephysiotherapy
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringrobotics
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringcontrol systemshome automation
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Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
ST18 0AD STAFFORD
United Kingdom