Att göra för att förstå - konstruktion för rehabilitering

Based on the results of two rehabilitation engineering design projects, this thesis aims to present and analyze: ? What is required for genuine engineering knowledge and expertise to come into its own in rehabilitation engineering when the entire effort starts and ends with the person for whom it is intended. ? How the work of an engineer not only can improve the conditions for the actual doing, but can also contribute to the understanding of situations and people, their capabilities, desires and needs. The two projects, The Minimeter and Reading with Hands, are both based on and contribute not only to rehabilitation but also to the engineering context. My thesis comprises the work of an engineer from the earliest idea stage up to the final results that are first realized when the implementations are used by other people and can be assessed by them. The Minimeter is a communication tool for people with severe brain injuries. It enables communication, starting at the yes-no level, for people with exceedingly limited mobility and extensive cognitive difficulties. Standard hardware combined with specially designed software is used to detect even minor movements and for example to make them steer a rolling ball on a computer screen. This yes-no interface inspires the user to act and yields continuous feedback and control. Reading with hands is a system for computer based recording and automatic tracking of finger movements when reading Braille and in tactile picture recognition. It makes it easy to analyze the process and to draw conclusions, among them pedagogical ones with implications for future tactile reading training for children or adults who are blind. For the first time it is possible to automatically follow how the fingers move over the Braille text while the person is reading (aloud or silently). The finger movements can be compared to sighted persons? eye movements while reading standard print. Comparisons can also be made between the finger exploration of a tactile face picture by a blind person and the corresponding eye movements by a sighted person.