The "humane in the loop": Inclusive research design and policy approaches to foster capacity building assistive technologies in the COVID-19 era.

The COVID-19 pandemic is emerging as a driver of greater reliance on wireless technologies, including intelligent assistive technologies, such as robots and artificial intelligence. We must integrate the humane "into the loop" of human-AT interactions to realize the full potential of wireless inclus...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Assistive Technology Vol. 34; no. 6; pp. 644 - 653
Main Authors: Bricout, John, Greer, Julienne, Fields, Noelle, Xu, Ling, Tamplain, Priscila, Doelling, Kris, Sharma, Bonita
Format: research Journal Article
Published: Taylor & Francis Ltd 2022
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Description
Summary:The COVID-19 pandemic is emerging as a driver of greater reliance on wireless technologies, including intelligent assistive technologies, such as robots and artificial intelligence. We must integrate the humane "into the loop" of human-AT interactions to realize the full potential of wireless inclusion for people with disabilities and older adults. Embedding ethics into these new technologies is critical and requires a co-design approach, with end users participating throughout. Developing humane AT begins with a participatory, user-centered design embedded in an iterative co-creation process, and guided by an ethos prioritizing beneficence, user autonomy and agency. To gain insight into plausible AT development pathways ("futures"), we use scenario planning as a tool to articulate themes in the research literature. Four plausible scenarios are developed and compared to identify one as a desired "humane" future for AT development. Policy and practice recommendations derived from this scenario, and their implications for the role of AT in the advancement of human potential are explored.