Monash University has recently established a new centre for co-designing and developing assistive technology with people with disabilities, focusing on emerging technologies such as AI and robotics.

The Monash Assistive Technology and Society (MATS) Centre, which started in 2023, is led by assistive technology researchers and social scientists from the university's Faculties of Information Technology and Arts. 

A dedicated maker space was built for the newly established centre by the Faculty of IT, incorporating 3D printers, laser cutters, electronics, and AI technology. 

It currently supports various ongoing projects, including AI-enabled smart glasses for people with cerebral visual impairment and generative AI to support blind people using productivity tools. There are also projects utilising rehabilitation robots and virtual reality, as well as digital mental health interventions for the deaf. 

WHY IT MATTERS

The new Monash centre aims to make opportunities available for people with disabilities to design and develop assistive technology that is useful in their daily lives. It leverages multidisciplinary research, considering different perspectives on assistive technology development. 

Besides emerging technology, other innovative projects supported by the MATS Centre include circuit-making blocks and a mobile maker space van for people with intellectual disabilities; an online Australian sign language dictionary; and interactive 3D printed maps for blind people.

THE LARGER TREND

Another project from Monash University offers a free online resource promoting assistive technology to people with acquired brain injury (ABI). Called My Technology Space, it offers information, resources and tools that can help users think about their goals and needs, map out the support they could get to do daily activities, and know which technology they could adopt. An evaluation framework is also provided which asks questions about assistive technology products, including effectiveness, reliability, and cost and risk. The framework then ranks each product by performance. 

The website also has resources for the families of people with ABI, as well as allied health professionals and assistive technology advisors. 

"A person with brain injury may be able to use the tools on My Technology Space to think about off-the-shelf home assistants like Google Home or Alexa and the features of these products. But they may want to get some advice from an allied health professional if thinking about different types of customised movement sensing and audio prompting technologies that may provide cognitive support," further explained Libby Callaway, project leader and associate professor at Monash University’s Occupational Therapy Department and Rehabilitation, Ageing and Independent Living Research Centre.

Outside Monash, the University of Sydney supported a project developing a 3D-printed sensor bracelet that allows people with hand impairment due to cerebral palsy to use computers and play video games. 

ON THE RECORD

"When developed carefully and co-designed alongside people with disabilities, new technologies like generative AI, object and facial recognition, mixed reality and 3D printing have the potential to provide empowering solutions and new opportunities that were not previously available to these communities," said Kim Marriott, Monash University professor and MATS Centre director.

"It is important to understand technology through a social lens for us to present the most useful solutions and opportunities for real-world situations. The [MATS] Centre places emphasis on bringing multidisciplinary researchers together so the assistive technologies research is enriched by various perspectives," added the centre's deputy director Louisa Willoughby, who is also an associate professor at Monash University Faculty of Arts.