Stakeholder Engagement

Stakeholder engagement, facilitated through the PADE process, will encompass focus groups, journey mapping interviews, and expert user evaluations conducted by team members. These endeavors will foster partnerships among stakeholders, academic institutions, and industry.

University students pursuing engineering, computer science, or rehabilitation-related professions, wheelchair users, rehabilitation engineers, therapists, and AT professionals (ATP) specializing in wheelchair service and delivery, and wheelchair manufacturers will serve as the foundation for user engagement.

Stakeholder Needs Identification

The elucidation of stakeholder requisites and challenges in the execution of ADL tasks is fundamental for validating and enhancing RAMMP design specifications and functionalities.

ADL Tasks for Scrutiny

ADL selected for scrutiny, encompassing augmented mobility, transportation, meal-related activities (including eating/drinking and clean-up), shopping, work, and community engagement, have been discerned through reviewing the literature.

Refine System Requirements

The requirements for RAMMP systems will be derived from data obtained through focus groups and journey mapping. These methodologies will offer insights into more precise system specifications.

Key System Criteria:

• Overall mass below 75 kilograms
• Range exceeding 16 kilometers per charge
• Power seat functionalities: tilt (forward, rearward, lateral), recline, elevation, leg-rest
• Multiple input/output ports for interface devices
• Expandable sensor package via open-source ATOS
• Overall dimensions smaller than current Group 3 PMD
• Obstacle identification, classification, navigation, and negotiation

Performance and Functional Metrics

Performance and functional metrics will undergo refinement to assess RAMMP and measure improvements. These specific measures will be adjusted as necessary in response to emerging scientific and engineering discoveries, input from focus groups, and insights from journey mapping results.

Evaluation Tools:

S3 – C – Phase 1: Preliminary Design Features

Stakeholder engagement, facilitated through the PADE process, will encompass focus groups, journey mapping interviews, and expert user evaluations conducted by team members. These endeavors will foster partnerships among stakeholders, academic institutions, and industry. University students pursuing engineering, computer science, or rehabilitation-related professions, wheelchair users, rehabilitation engineers, therapists, and AT professionals (ATP) specializing in wheelchair service and delivery, and wheelchair manufacturers will serve as the foundation for user engagement. Leveraging their collective expertise, we will develop solutions through RAMMP facilitating the resolution of heretofore intransigent ADL challenges.

Stakeholder Needs Identification: The elucidation of stakeholder requisites and challenges in the execution of ADL tasks is fundamental for validating and enhancing RAMMP design specifications and functionalities. To this end, we will convene focus groups comprising a total of 25 stakeholders, aged 18 years or older. Participants will engage in discussions about utilization of current M&M AT, primary requirements, existing obstacles encountered during various ADL, and desired M&M features that could expand functionality, alongside identifying research and education lacunae. ADL selected for scrutiny, encompassing augmented mobility, transportation, meal-related activities (including eating/drinking and clean-up), shopping, work, and community engagement, have been discerned through reviewing the literature. Subsequently, a thematic analysis will be conducted to ascertain prevalent ADL challenges and pinpoint R&D and education gaps, facilitating translation of findings into design prerequisites, specifications, and capabilities for RAMMP system.

Journey mapping interviews will be conducted with 25 stakeholders representing diverse perspectives and expertise. Our stakeholder consortium, inclusive of university students pursuing engineering, computer science, or rehabilitation professions, PMD users, rehabilitation engineers, therapists, and ATP specializing in PMD service and delivery, as well as PMD manufacturers, will ensure comprehensive representation. Through journey mapping interviews, stakeholders will delineate experiences and challenges encountered throughout the entirety of their ADL routines. This approach will provide insights into the nuances of interactions with M&M AT, enriching understanding of stakeholder needs and informing the refinement of RAMMP design requirements and capabilities.

Refine System Requirements: The requirements for RAMMP systems will be derived from data obtained through focus groups and journey mapping. These methodologies will offer insights into more precise system specifications. Key criteria include ensuring that the overall mass of the system will be below 75 kilograms, the utilization of state-of-the-art brushless DC motors, and advanced battery technologies, coupled with cutting-edge power management techniques. The RAMMP system must exhibit a range exceeding 16 kilometers per charge and incorporate power seat functionalities such as tilt (forward, rearward, and lateral), recline, elevation, and leg-rest elevation. Multiple input/output ports for interface devices will be integrated, alongside an expandable sensor package for enhanced environmental awareness leveraging the open-source expandable ATOS and capabilities of LUCI. The overall width, length, and seat height of the system must be smaller than current Group 3 PMD to ensure maneuverability. The system will feature obstacle identification, classification, navigation, and negotiation capabilities to include ramps, curbs, drop-offs, pathway edges/transitions, surface types, and common architectural features (e.g., doors, hallways, thresholds). RAMMS will be a digital twin, incorporating real-world data from the RAMMP hardware and equipped with troubleshooting and predictive capabilities, which will augment hardware system performance and reliability. RAMMS digital twin will provide the ability to simulate and predict performance improvements prior to building physical hardware. These requirements will serve as the foundation for the development of RAMMP systems tailored to meet the diverse needs of stakeholders.

Performance and Functional Metrics: Performance and functional metrics will undergo refinement to assess RAMMP and measure improvements when developing platforms to enhance education, expand entrepreneurship, and improve ADL completion. These specific measures will be adjusted as necessary in response to emerging scientific and engineering discoveries, input from focus groups, and insights from journey mapping results. Drawing upon prior relevant experience and published literature, an initial set of evaluation tools was chosen, including the NASA-TLX, USAT, RESNA Standards, Power-mobility Indoor Driving Assessment, Power Mobility Community Driving Assessment, Fitt's Law, Jebsen Hand Test, Block and Box Test, Minnesota Rate of Manipulation Test, Environmental Analysis of Mobility Questionnaire, Patient Global Impression of Change (PGIMC), and Psychosocial Impact of Assistive Devices Scale. [11] [PITT.27] Assessment protocol will be employed for device testing with stakeholders during Phase 3.

Tasks for Activities of Daily Living: Tasks for ADL encompass a spectrum of essential activities crucial for independent living, spanning from basic self-care routines to community engagement. Priority ADL tasks are slated for refinement to enhance the performance of the RAMMP, to ensure measurable advancements in functionality. Tasks will include activities such as ingress/egress and vehicle docking, meal preparation, eating/drinking, and clean-up, shopping across various domains like grocery and clothing stores, engaging in work settings such as offices, laboratories, retail outlets, and outdoor work environments, pursuing educational endeavors in classrooms, and laboratories, participating in community activities including travel, leisure pursuits, sports, and recreation. The scope extends to indoor navigation challenges encompassing maneuvering through hallways, doors, bathrooms, kitchens, and bedrooms, as well as tackling outdoor negotiation hurdles such as ramps, curbs, irregular pedestrian pathways, potholes, cross-slopes, gravel, grass, and speedbumps. By focusing on refining these priority ADL tasks, RAMMP aims to expand R&D capacity, increase innovation, and enhance independence and quality of life for PWD navigating through diverse environments, fostering vast improvements in daily functioning. The success of RAMMP will be measured by either providing the ability to perform tasks incapable with current PMMD or that exceed current capabilities (e.g., 4X better on tasks).

Design Feature Refinement: Design features of RAMMP will undergo an iterative refinement process aimed at enhancing RAMMP's functionality and usability. Subsequent design features will be honed by integrating feedback from expert user testing, Clinical Limits of Use Testing (CLOUT), RESNA Standards Testing, as well as efficacy and effectiveness testing to ensure that RAMMP meets the diverse needs of stakeholders while adhering to safety standards and efficacy benchmarks. Through this iterative refinement process, RAMMP aims to optimize its design features to enhance education, product innovation, and M&M outcomes, ultimately fostering vastly greater independence and quality of life for PWD.