In part two with the Hand Assessment Tool (HAT) team, we dive into their experience at the RESNA Student Design Challenge and their plans to make HAT open source. The team shares lessons on bridging the gap between prototypes and clinical use, advice for future student innovators, and their vision for making hand therapy more accessible and equitable.
Host(s): Dr. Mary Goldberg, Co-Director of the IMPACT Center at the University of Pittsburgh
Guest(s): Student Design Team - HAT, University of Washington: Yuka Fan, Emily Boeschoten, Adria Gonzalez, Sasha Portnova
IMPACT Center | Website, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter
HAT Team Information | Video, Website, Publication
Discussion Topics
Mary Goldberg 0:03
The IMPACT Center at the University of Pittsburgh, supported by the National Institute of Disability Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research, proudly presents ImpacTech. On today's episode, we continue our discussion with the Hand Assessment Tool team, the RESNA student design challenge, runners up for the Impact Award for their development of HAT, which is a low cost camera based tool that automates hand range of motion tracking in under 90 seconds. Tecorded remotely from my soundproof bedroom closet in Pittsburgh, PA, this is your host, Dr, Mary Goldberg, and welcome to our 31st episode of the ImpacTech podcast series.
Mary Goldberg 0:56
Yeah, we had the honor of meeting you all at the RESNA student design challenge. So for those of you that are unfamiliar with this particular competition, it's run by the rehabilitation engineering and assistive technology Society of North America. Acronym RESNA, R, E, S, N, A, they do a fairly regular most year conference. This year's conference was in tandem with Rehab Week and the design challenge has been around for a long while, and encourages students to put forward a a quick design brief about their product and also showcase through multimedia what their product is and does, and provide a demo of it, and then the finalists are invited to come in person and present their design. So we were really impressed with you all in the showcase, and wanted to hear about how it was for you. Were there any surprises or memorable moments. And in particular, how did any feedback that you received from judges and so on help to shape your existing product?
Sasha Portnova 2:11
I think Yuka should talk, because she is very new to the rehab world. I think coming from UX design space, and this being part of the rehab week, where Yuka got bombarded by all the rehab tech. I actually, I think her input on this is the most valuable here.
Yuka Fan 2:32
Yeah, thank you for the question. I think the experience so so cool, and it was, it was mind blowing to me about how just listening to other finalist projects are amazing experience. There's some really cool ones, like needing gloves for people with arthritis and pet dispenser for people on the wheelchair. And these are, like, so fascinating project. So on that side, listening to all the other finalist presentation and seeing all the emerging technologies in Rehabilitation Science at the showcase was really mind blowing for me. But also I think I was I really learned that there's a huge gap between, oh, this is out there. The technology is out we have this project, and the gap between this and how is it really accessible to people? Is it ready to use by patients? So I learned about, you have to think about the HIPAA, the insurance coverage. Can people actually use it, even the technology might help people, and there's a huge gap there. So that's what I thought the most about. And I think we also got a lot of questions about, what's your next step? How do you make it happen? And how do you plan to publish it. And when I was working on this project, this was in the question that I think the most, but I feel like in real world, if we want to make a real impact, these are the most important questions. So that's, I think, is my biggest takeaway. And now we're also focusing on, how do we want to make it open source, how do you want to make it actually potentially used by people?
Mary Goldberg 4:24
It's a perfect segue to the next question. So yeah, what are your next steps related to dissemination and translation? Yuka mentioned a few here, considerations HIPAA and insurance and so on, or maybe kind of maximizing or optimizing who all would be able to use it through open source methods. I'd love to hear from the team about what the next steps are.
Sasha Portnova 4:47
Yeah, there, there are many ways to go, but one way, best way, we have identified, is to go the open source route, where we prepare the interface in. And a kind of like wrapped application that any clinics can kind of use as a standalone dot exe, kind of run this application for whatever purposes they see fit. We the plan is to also kind of release all the source code open source for any other researchers that want to kind of build upon it and improve the interface, code, hand tracking, can do so on their own. I think that route kind of, or at least we have thought maybe we'll need more talk with others about this. But what kind of eliminate the need to worry about HIPAA and things like that, just because the clinic, at least the way we see it, clinics kind of either deciding to use it or not deciding to use it and just and using it for like, their own internal documentation that they can track. That has been the thought. I do believe it'd be nice to hear more. I know part of this being selected as the by the impact center. We get to chat with some of the VC. So I'd love to get more perspective on that. I think outside of that, we didn't have many other kind of like generated idea. I know at UW, we also potentially have, we have a whole center that is dedicated to helping create little companies. You have some really cool IP that could be a route, but I have not discussed yet. And we're all kind of in very, very different stages in life with all of our work, and this was our pretty much side project. This was not even like a research focus of anyone's work. This was not like the main part of either my research position or Andreas or Emily's or you guys. We were just very, very passionate and excited about this project
Mary Goldberg 7:05
that makes the story even better, some cool happenstance, the alignment of availability and interests and backgrounds that you all have that's great.
Michelle Zorrilla 7:19
Before we get back to the conversation, it's time for the ImpacTech Innovation Spotlight, highlighting groundbreaking ideas for a more inclusive world.
Wayne Newitts - DOOR-E 7:33
At Open Door robotics, we have a mission, and that mission is to literally and figuratively open the door to better living with simple, affordable technology, solving problems that help the activities of daily life using smart, portable robotic solutions that can be deployed with minimal installation and immediately out of the box, give people more freedom, more dignity as they go through their lives, through the interiors of their homes, through their businesses, wherever they need better access and they need doors to open and close and be controlled. That's what we do. So please do check us out on Facebook, at Facebook slash Open Door robotics. You can call us at 844, open 4 me, and I'll likely answer the phone, but do please join us on Facebook, visit our website at Open Door robotics.com, and help us as we try to help the community of folks who need better access.
Mary Goldberg 8:39
So what advice do you have for other student teams who are just starting out in assistive technology innovation? And Emily, I know for sure you're a current student, possibly some of you are continuing scholars in some way, shape or form, but would love to hear your perspective as a current student and advice that you have for others.
Emily Boeschoten 8:59
The one thing I noticed the most from like the RESNA panels and everything, is there weren't a lot of people with disabilities on the teams or included in that regard. So it's hard, because you have to find people in engineering in these projects with the technical skills too. I've worked in engineering for a while, and I found when working with assistive tech, it's kind of nice to be able to test it and just be before you have to go through an IRB or anything like crazy strenuous and so I think that's part of why I'm still in this is because if I want to know if it's working, I just test it on myself, and then, okay, let's see if this is actually, like, even feasible. But I'm not saying that people need to, like, go out and recruit people would be testers on their teams. I'm just saying that it's good to include the community perspective beyond just the going to visit the nursing home. Me. Making it so all aspects of the design are informed by the community or by someone with at least some type of disability, because it really does give you a completely different, like, perspective on life and where it makes it where you can be like, Okay, I could see that even if it's like your low vision and you're working on, like a mobility product, you're still going, okay, there's probably some oversight in this regard, where there's, there's going to be some issues at this point. So I think, from an efficiency standpoint, having people with disabilities on the teams is very advantageous. And it's not just from a diversity perspective, but genuine efficiency. Having a great product and the outcome, that's the one thing I found where it's it really does streamline the process and makes it better for everyone in the end. And so that's my hope. And like the assistive tech and like adaptive designs, it's really just include more people with disabilities. And I think for me, I got started in high school, but I think there needs to be more recruitment efforts, like in the earlier years of college to be like, Hey, you can do this. Come join
Mary Goldberg 11:04
our team. Kind of deal. That's great. It's really a wise business move. When you were talking about the different steps you've made to make sure that your product is supremely accessible, I just kept thinking, yep, that's another group and another group and another group who would be able to use the technology very seamlessly, but certainly would be more likely to adopt it, I'm sure. All right, so last but not least, if your tool could make one real world impact in the next year, what would that be?
Sasha Portnova 11:34
I well, I think the real world impact is to get more people in the OT field, lower the barriers for entry or completely remove them, or at least in the space when it comes to performing hand assessment, really provide clinicians of all abilities with the tools that are needed?
Emily Boeschoten 11:58
Yeah, no, I completely agree. I think just spreading awareness about this tool and the fact that there are alternatives out there to the standard of care, where it's showing that there is something outside the box that can be achieved, even if clinicians don't adopt this model, but just realizing that there's more than one way of doing things, and I really just hope that this shows that there can be assistive technology for those technical standards, and they can actually, they can actually achieve better results than the standard of care. And I think also just acknowledging that disability doesn't just happen at one point in your life, and we make accommodations for all people as we age, and so acknowledging that aging therapists who have lower vision now they'll actually be able to do accurate measurements, because they'll be able to read the they won't be guessing what the little one millimeter apart dashes are pointing at, just getting more representation in the field, so that way patients can be like, Oh, I can actually do way more than I thought I could. And also for the pediatric patients, their parents seeing that, oh my gosh, my kid actually has a future ahead of them. And so that's, that's my big, mega goal. But it's just, it's been really fun working with this team, and I really been appreciative of the experience. So thank you for highlighting us.
Mary Goldberg 13:24
Yeah, thank you for sharing your amazing story about your what I'm thinking it more and more is just really an equitable approach to hand therapy in the way that you're able to get it out there, eventually we'll be able to get it out to people who need it, especially in remote areas, and not only for the people who are seeking hand therapy themselves, but for the providers. So yeah, really, really cool story. Thank you so much. So if people want to learn more, how can they contact you, and where can they read about you?
Yuka Fan 14:01
We have a website, and we're planning to also have the Open Source Link to GitHub repository on the website. We have our contact information on the website as well our emails and our phone number.
Mary Goldberg 14:19
Thank you for joining us for this episode of empactic. It's always inspiring to hear from the next generation of innovators, especially when their work has such meaningful implications for accessibility, equity and clinical care. We're excited to see where the hat team goes next, and how their vision might shape the future of hand rehabilitation. Be sure to check out the links in our show notes to watch their demo, explore their website and read more about their research, and don't forget to subscribe to impact it for more stories from the front lines of assistive technology innovation until next time, stay curious and keep innovating. If. Like impactic, please review us on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts, thank you again for tuning in and continue to make an impact in whatever you do.
Mary Goldberg 15:19
A quick note from our sponsors, IMPACT initiatives are being developed under a grant from the National Institute on Disability Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research. NIDILRR is a center within the Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services. IMPACT initiatives do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL or HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government. And the same goes for the University of Pittsburgh. We would like to thank our ImpacTech guests and our production team led by Dr Michelle Zorrilla at the University of Pittsburgh Department of Rehabilitation, Science and Technology.