INOVATELL - INOVAtive Touchless tEchnologies in Lifelong Learning for people with severe disabilities

Valakupiai Rehabilitation Centre / Lithuania

Target Group The beneficiaries of the INOVATELL project are people with a severe impairment to the movement or use of their upper limbs and/or who cannot use a standard computer and mouse. The intended beneficiaries would also be people who do not have access to technologies or aids that would allow them to use a standard computer layout, whether because they cannot afford it or because they cannot use it (because of their specific type of disability).
The other beneficiaries are people who have no or limited computer literacy, as the project also gave rise to a computer-use tutorial.
There is no age limit as to who belongs to the target group, the solution works for children, adults and senior people.

About 3 million people with disabilities in Europe could, if targeted properly, benefit from the INOVATELL project. In addition, there are millions of people in Europe who lack computer literacy skills. These people can benefit from a free, clear and easy-to-use tutorial in their own language, regardless of their level of (dis)(h)ability.    
Description
Prior to the project we identified a big demand for acquisition of key competence digital literacy and free/affordable ICT solution for people with severe movement disabilities (especially for people with restricted hand functions caused cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, tetraplegia, amputations of upper limb(-s), spinal injuries or other health problems) that face limitations to use ordinary computer devices.
The INOVATELL project led to the creation of two things: a touchless computer control tool and an online tutorial explaining how to use a computer. Touchless computer control enables people with severe disabilities using remote hand or head movement to control a cursor on a computer screen and carry out basic computer functions without using a mouse or keyboard.
Requirements for the hardware are very simple: a Windows 8 mobile or desktop computer and webcam (standard USB or built-in camera), which makes it easily accessible.
The computer control tool can be downloaded for free from its dedicated website, along with a thorough user manual, that is fully available in English, Lithuanian, Slovenian and Portuguese.
Beyond this control tool, the INOVATELL project also consists in an online tutorial on the basics of how to use a computer, from how Windows 8 works to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and the internet. In this way, people with disabilities with no prior ICT experience will be able to quickly and easily learn to use a computer to which access they’ll have gained thanks to the INOVATELL tool.
The involvement of people with disabilities was assured by inviting them to test the tool and learning material, the feedback was gathered and taken into account before the products were finalized. Most of the participants reported that they found it to be more effective than most other affordable aids they had used before.

Furthermore the people who participated in the testing also took part in the making of the promotional videos, in order to inspire other people to use a computer, even if they cannot use an ordinary mouse and keyboard.
Partners
Staff and Resources
Duration
Finances 		The INOVATELL project was implemented by four partners from three different countries: CRPG, a vocational rehabilitation centre from Portugal, the University Rehabilitation Institute from Slovenia, Idea Code, an IT company from Lithuania, and the Valakupiai Rehabilitation Centre, from Lithuania as well, as the leading partner.
The development and testing process was carried out by experienced ICT developers, ICT trainers, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists working in all three rehabilitation centres working on the project. The coding itself was done by Idea Code.
The project lasted from 2013 to 2015, but the partners still keeping the computer literacy tutorial up to date, while making sure the software itself keeps working properly.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. The total project budget was 232039 EUR.
Contact /more information