Objective
The PACKAGE project is concerned with consumer packaging, typically used by supermarkets for the sale of food, drink and detergents. The project will improve the lifestyles of three categories of disabled users, namely%l(i) people with impaired hand function who urgently need a device to open packages;%l(ii) people with impaired vision who need to be able to distinguish packages with different contents;%l(iii) people with special dietary needs, who require warnings of unsuitable ingredients in food packages. The first part of the project is concerned with a demonstration of the "design-for-all" principle, and will develop improved package tops that are easier to open than those currently available. In its second part, the project will take advantage of the enormous potential for extending the use of package bar codes to include point-of-use as well as point-of-sale. The consortium will demonstrate that people with disabilities and older persons can benefit from this technology through the introduction of a new product named HELPING HAND, and a new European database of manufacturers, products and packaging, named ED-MaPP.
DESCRIPTION OF WORK
The consortium will undertake a comprehensive user requirements analysis, to quantify the difficulties which people with disabilities and older persons encounter with consumer packaging. It will work with an independent packaging consultant to initiate opportunities to introduce low-tech solutions for opening packages, based on the "design-for-all" principle. Demonstrations will be provided to show the advantages of introducing modified package tops that could be hexagonal or square shaped, so that they can be opened with low cost opening aids like a "spanner on a nut".
The consortium will further develop
(i) a product named HELPING HAND, with different levels of functionality,
(ii) a European database of manufacturers, products and packaging, named ED-MaPP, which will be available on the WWW at the end of the project and prepared for SMART HOMES of the future. HELPING HAND will be used by European citizens in the home. At its highest level of functionality, it will be able to read the bar code on a consumer package and match this code against ED-MaPP to identify the package and its ingredients. HELPING HAND will open the package, speak its contents and provide a warning of unsuitable ingredients. Its opening facility will be available for packages with screw-tops; its speaking and warning facilities will be extended to include at least 4,000 items of popularly used products. At its lower levels of functionality, HELPING HAND will not include a facility to read a bar code, but it will be able to open packages with minimal user involvement. Modularity will be a key feature in its development. The three versions of HELPING HAND, listed in descending order of functionality, are TELE-HAND, MAGIC-HAND and POWER-HAND. All three versions will be subjected to rigorous user test programmes. The results from PACKAGE will initiate a ripple effect through a well-known European supermarket chain.
MILESTONES
Milestone 1- Results of user requirements analysis (end of month 12);
Milestone 2- Design-for-all principles applied to consumer packaging (end of month 24);
Milestone 3- Technical completion and evaluation of POWER-HAND (end of month 24);
Milestone 4- Technical completion and evaluation of MAGIC-HAND (end of month 27);
Milestone 5- ED-MaPP database on WWW server (end of month 30);
Milestone 6- Technical completion of TELE-HAND (end of month 30);
Milestone 7- Evaluation of TELE-HAND (end of month 35);
Milestone 8- Marketing and product promotion plan (end of month 36, end 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 sciencesdatabases
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseasesRNA virusesHIV
- 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
G1 1XQ GLASGOW
United Kingdom