Software interfaces of the Jaco robotic arm: results of a focus group

Abstract

Robotics is a good opportunity for developing assistive technologies that could provide greater functionalities to provide for more independent activities of daily living. The Jaco robotic arm is one of these devices. Using standard joystick control requires fine motor skills, which are often lacking in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI). A user- centered approach was conducted to design two alternative graphical user interfaces to control the Jaco arm. Firs, five Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) were designed: three based on a software keyboard and two on pie menu concepts. The three software keyboards differ from the visual representation: text buttons, icon buttons, or color organization and are adapted to the Jaco’s control modes. The two pie menus differ according to the interaction technique used to access the second level of the pie menu, i.e. the two techniques designed: pointing and “goal crossing”. Then two groups (one of occupational therapists and another of persons with quadriplegia caused by SCI) were invited to answer a questionnaire to collect their feedback and evaluate their future needs regarding the five GUIs presented. Following the focus group two GUIs were proposed taking into account these issues. The paper will discuss the user-centered approach and the issues that arose at each stage of the design.