Commanded by the student's voice, the robot loads a videodisc to begin a lesson in a popular page layout program. In this adapted workplace, students work at their own pace to build desktop publishing skills. Problem: A person with severe physical disabilites, such as spinal cord injury, faces many obstacles to learning vocational skills in a typical classroom environment.
Related Work: This project builds on the developmentand evaluation of the DeVar desktop vocational assistant robot, and it has given rise to the Functional Performance Assessment Tool for tracking rehabilition treatment and progress.
For additional information see the 1994 Project Report for this project. Last updated September 25, 1995 |
Approach:
Using a self-paced interactive multimedia curriculum in an adapted workplace
environment the Vocational Training Facility has enabled sixteen students with
severe physical disabilities to learn practical desktop publishing skills. For
many this unique learning experience has led to internships and employment
making newsletters and slides or designing ads, forms and marketing materials
for organizations and companies.