End-user impact:
» The benefit for the end-users achieved with the INPUT system is the most important impact this project will have.
In our project we will concentrate on the application of established technologies and improve them only where necessary for making simple control of a complex prosthesis daily reality for the wearers. "Don and play" will become reality for the wearer - easy to use, reliable and without annoying frequent malfunctions. Reducing pure research to a minimum will allow us to dedicate a maximum of time to interact with end-users. This will help us to quantitatively assess the effectiveness of the implemented measures, but even more importantly puts users in the design loop. Their satisfaction is the ultimate measure of success for INPUT. In the course of this project we will, for the first time, have a large population of amputees wear advanced prostheses for a prolonged time. The integration of the feedback by these first-hand experiences in our development will be the enabling factor for INPUT to create a device that actually satisfies user needs - and not just those of engineers and reviewers.
Industrial impact:
» The industrial partners of INPUT (two entities of Ottobock) have all facilities to exploit the project's results after its end as the market leader in exoprosthetics. A concrete exploitation plan will be generated as part of WP2 in Task 2.3.
The results of INPUT will thus have direct application in the market. The advancement of the practicality level of current solutions is important before attempting market introduction, since the previously proposed systems do not yet possess the required technology readiness levels. By developing an integrated, autonomous, wearable system, the industrial impact of INPUT will be to advance this technology to the robust control of 4 DOF simultaneously with a TRL 8 - "System complete and qualified" - preparing market introduction.
To reduce market introduction efforts after the end of INPUT to a minimum, since the initial phases of the project attention will be paid to the fulfillment of ISO13485 as quality management standard for design and manufacture of medical devices.
Scientific impact:
The most relevant innovations INPUT will contribute will be targeting market applications relating to novel signal acquisition hardware, machine learning methods including novel robustness promoting strategies, end-user training and end-user evaluation paradigms for upper limb prosthetic control. While industrial impact will be prioritized over scientific impact in INPUT, all of these topics will also be of very high interest for the scientific community. We therefore plan to showcase our advancements towards "don and play" multi-DOF prosthesis control solutions in a number of scientific congresses and journal papers.
