Mattia Pistolesi

Population around Europe is getting older; many older adults would like to live independently in their homes as long as possible. Personalized integrated care plan strategies envisage the possibility of home care services for those people at risk of frailty. In this context, the robot could empower people to live independently. In the presented work, 20 frail older adults were asked to live with a telepresence robot (i.e., Double Robot), through which the formal caregiver could remotely visit them. A total of 284 days of field-test trial was evaluated with a proposed framework that explores several domains, including system reliability, maintainability, system acceptance, user attitude, and user experiences. At the end of the experimentation, the system was used for 4241 mins accomplishing 151 telepresence services, and the results underline optimal system reliability and high user experience. Based on the collected feedback, the proposed telepresence robot can be exploited into integrated care services. The evaluation of a system should envisage a complex, multidisciplinary, and holistic approach that may influence the success or failure of the robot's purpose if not properly analyzed during the evaluation and design phase.

Poster presentato in occasione del congresso Forum Risk Management 2022 The management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is still skewed towards intra-hospital acute care. Guidelines indicate early identification and rapid treatment of exacerbations, minimising the impact of ongoing flare-ups and preventing the development of future exacerbations by reducing hospitalisation as priorities. B-MO is the design of a product-service for the gradual remote monitoring of COPD patients, capable of managing exacerbations on an escalation of 3 levels of worsening: mild, moderate and severe. The purpose of the device is in fact to identify any worsening trends in patients' health conditions from daily respiratory tests carried out at home.

Introduction: Parkinson's Disease is a severe, debilitating neurodegenerative pathology characterized by a progressive and chronic disorder, mainly concerning - although not exclusively - motor symptoms such as bradykinesia, rigidity and tremor. These symptoms cause difficulties in movement and, more generally, in daily life, also negatively affecting the mental health as well as the quality of life of People with Parkinson (PwP) and their caregivers. The prolonged confinement imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic has got worse the difficulties of movement that PwP experience within their homes, highlighting how important it is to design domestic spaces suited to their needs in order to reduce the burden of their suffering and improve their quality of life. Scope: The aim of the research programme Home Care Design for Parkinson’s Disease, project supported by Fondazione Zoè, is the definition of guidelines for the design and implementation of an inclusive and accessible home environment for PwP. Methodology: 25 PwP (with varying gender, age and levels of symptomatology) and 18 informal and formal caregivers (with varying gender, age and experience) of Tuscany region, were involved in the study. Due to Covid-19 pandemic, the research methodology was modified. To receive qualitative data, 2 method of Human-Centred Design (HCD) approach (Stanton, 2014) were used. Consequently: semi-structured interview and virtual observation of the home via videocall (Skype and Zoom platform). Results: The results of the evaluation phase have been useful for the definition of common intervention areas. Overall, the major problems emerged as follows: (i) vertical and horizontal paths, (ii) spaces dimensions and (iii) assistive devices. Conclusion: The contribution of this article is to describe the application of methods of the HCD approach, in assessing the needs and defining the technical and technological requirements for the home environment to ben more inclusive and less invasive for PwP and their caregivers

Older people would like to live independently for as long as possible. However, seniors may experience cognitive and physical problems which could have a great impact on their autonomy and their quality of life. Over the last years, several national and European projects were founded to design, develop, and test reliable solutions to support the life of the older population. In this context, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), such as robots, could represent a valid solution to empower older people. Inspired by the current trends, this paper presents the design and the development of a telepresence and monitoring service to foster active aging. The proposed approach is based on a human-centered design which leads to the definitions of the services through the focus groups and the survey conducted within social cooperatives. Based on these results, a cloud system composed of environmental sensors and a telepresence robot was developed and tested in private homes and residential facilities without the presence of any external support. The results underline a positive attitude of the senior citizens such as the caregivers involved in the services. The telepresence robot demonstrates high reliability and it was used for more than 100 calls during the experimenta- tion phase. During this experience, we collected and grouped multidisciplinary guidelines and feedbacks which we report in this paper as guidelines for future researchers.

This volume brings together the results of the Home Care Design for Parkinson's Disease research programme, which aimed to define good design practices to enhance the independence and quality of life of people with Parkinson's disease in the home environment. The programme, promoted and funded by the Zoé Foundation, was carried out by a multidisciplinary working group involving the University of Florence for design, the University of Turin for neurology, the Catholic University of Milan for sociology, and the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil) for industrial production engineering – in collaboration with the Italian Parkinson's Confederation and the Limpe-Dismov Academy. The volume provides an introductory overview of Parkinson's disease from a medical and sociological perspective, analysing the main and most frequent areas of discomfort and/or difficulty experienced by people with Parkinson's disease in their daily lives and relationships.

The design approach is based on the principles of Design for Inclusion and on the theoretical and methodological approach of Human-Centred Design which, through the direct involvement of users, has made it possible to focus attention on the specific needs and expectations of people with Parkinson's disease and their families and to define the various design solutions.

Technological evolution has made available tools capable of connecting the patient to treating doctors and health facilities not only for ordinary activities but also for carrying out medical investigations directly at the patient's home thanks to increasingly sophisticated devices. The restrictions on the movement of people, due to the COVID-19 virus, have encouraged the use of tools already available to doctors and patients but have also accelerated the development of ongoing projects. The Italian Society of Ergonomics SIE has created a multidisciplinary working group that has tried to imagine the ways in which home care will take place in the next twenty years. The study is based on the integration between the "Human Centered Design" and "Strategic Foresight" processes. The eight researchers, according to their skills, have tried to identify the trends that will most influence the future, designing the possible scenarios in which home care will take place.

This volume collects the results of the research programme Home Care Design for Parkinson’s Disease, aimed at defining good design practices to enhance the autonomy and quality of life of people with Parkinson’s disease within the home environment.
The programme, promoted and financed by the Fondazione Zoé, was realised by a multidisciplinary work group – which involved the University of Florence for the area of design, the University of Turin for the area of neurology, the Catholic University of Milan for the area of sociology, the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil) for the area of industrial production engineering – in collaboration with the Confederazione Parkinson Italia and the Accademia Limpe-Dismov.
The book proposes an introductory overview of Parkinson’s disease from a medical and sociological point of view, analysing the main and most frequent areas of discomfort and/or difficulty experienced by people with Parkinson’s disease during activities of daily living and relationships.
The project approach is based on the principles of Design for Inclusion and on the theoretical and methodological approach of Human-Centred Design which, through the direct involvement of users, have made it possible to focus attention on the specific needs and expectations of people with Parkinson’s disease and their families and to define the different design solutions.
Specific insights are devoted to the emotional effects of interaction with the environments and products of everyday life, and to the opportunities offered by the use of enabling technologies, which, from robotics to wearable devices to environmental monitoring technologies, can offer concrete solutions for enhancing independence.
The second part of the book is dedicated to the design guidelines that provide solutions and operational indications to ensure maximum usability, safety and pleasantness of use of the home’s interior, its furnishings and equipment.

Theaimofthestudywastheexperimentationwithahybridapproach for the evaluation of some workstations of 5 Tuscany manufacturing companies, with the aim of defining standard operating guidelines for the improvement of safety and usability of the industrial machinery and workstations, and to improve the working conditions of the operators of all ages. 3 mechanical companies and 2 fashion-leather companies took part in this study. 37 users with variable age, gender and experience were involved. The study, financed by INAIL Toscana, bases its scientific reliability on the integration of skill and methodologies of two different fields of ergonomics, such as occupational ergonomics (curated by INAIL) and Human-Centred Design (curated by LED). The heuristic approach involved the application of a series of methodologies and the direct participation of operators to assess, identify and explore possible problems and discrepancies from the point of view of human-workstation interaction and workers’ perceptions. The following methodologies have been used: User Observation, Thinking Aloud, Interview, Questionnaire, Workstation Observation and Work Environment Observation. The data emerged were compared and evaluated also in consideration of the results of the evaluation carried out by INAIL experts within the framework of Occupational Ergonomics. The use of this hybrid approach allowed the researchers to collect qualitative and quantitative data, such as opinions, thoughts, expectations and critical points experienced by operators, sometimes silent and hidden due to the low participation of the operators in the company decisions. This article shows the methodology used and the findings.

The aim of this study was to investigate the usability levels of some pulmonary ventilators during emergency pandemic caused by COVID-19 for some hospitals of Tuscany Region. The study involved 30 anesthetists with varying age and experience, 5 hospitals of Tuscany Region and 3 different model of pulmonary ventilators. To quantify the usability levels of medical devices the Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire (PSSUQ) was used. The PSSQU was submitted to the operators using the Google Forms platform. This tool allowed us to asses user satisfaction for 4 different dimensions of usability: Overall PSSQU (user satisfaction), system usefulness (SYUSE), information quality (INFOQUAL) and interface quality (INTERQUAL). Overall, the PSSQU subscale scores show a high overall usability. The results indicate a positive reliability of the pulmonary ventilators studied, although for 2 out of 30 subjects surveyed, the PSSQU subscale score is less than 50%. The PSSQU proved to be a replicable tool for the different ventilator models in use in hospitals, and effective for measuring the usability of pulmonary ventilators, including performance, usability problems and user satisfaction. The results, although on average high, highlight the need for doctors to have: clearer and more detailed error messages, more usable and less chaotic graphic user interface (GUI), lighter and more intuitive mechanical ventilators during assembly and disassembly of components.

According to a study conducted by ARS Toscana in 2014 the old people in Tuscany were 916.640 and there will be an increase of 36% in 2050. The “non-self-sufficiency” of elderly is a condition which entails their need of assistance. Often such a condition leads them to move from their home to the nursing home, radically changing their habits and everyday life. Over the past few years, robotics has represented a potential solution to improve the quality of life. This paper describes the methodology used for CloudIA research project, which concerns the development of an assistive robot to support fragile and non-self-sufficient people. An ad hoc questionnaire was developed to evaluate the acceptability. The questionnaire was addressed to 75 people, aged between 30 and 99 years, living in five nursing homes. The results allowed to target the design of the new robot.