Announcing 6.811: Principles and Practice of Assistive Technology (PPAT), Fall 2014

August 05, 2014

Note: This post is lightly adapted from an email sent out about PPAT, which I will be co-teaching this fall.

6.811: Principles and Practice of Assistive Technology (PPAT) is a highly popular project-based course in which small teams of students work closely with a person with a disability in the Cambridge area to design a device, piece of equipment, app, or other solution that helps them live more independently.

PPAT was created in 2011 by Professor Seth Teller, who taught it each fall for the past three years. Please see the course website or the email below for links to example projects. The MIT News Office also highlighted student projects last year in a great article. In addition, MIT has created the Seth Teller Memorial Fund to Advance Technology for People with Disabilities.

In Fall 2014, we are very proud to announce that PPAT will continue to be offered. Professor Rob Miller will oversee the course, with Grace Teo and I as co-instructors and an outstanding team of PPAT alumni (including Michelle Chen, Abby Klein, and Ishwarya Ananthabhotla) as teaching and laboratory assistants.

If you cannot take the course, please email me if you would like to be added to the “PPAT friends” mailing list to stay updated on its progress and for other opportunities to get involved, such as mentoring student teams.

The course announcement is below. Please forward widely.

6.811: Principles and Practice of Assistive Technology (PPAT)

Direct Pre-Registration Link: http://student.mit.edu/catalog/editcookie.cgi?add=6.811 Course Website: http://courses.csail.mit.edu/PPAT/fall2014/index.html

Lectures: Mondays and Wednesdays, 1pm-2pm, 32-144

Labs: Mondays and Wednesdays, 3pm-5pm, 32-044

(note: If you are interested in the class but have a conflict with one or more of the times, please pre-register and email us at ppat@csail.mit.edu (and, if possible, show up to the lecture and lab on the first day).

Instructors: Professor Rob Miller, with co-instructors Grace Teo and William Li

First Class: Wed, Sept. 3rd at 1pm in room 32-144.

PPAT is a 12-unit, interdisciplinary, project-based course in which small teams of students work closely with a person with a disability in the Cambridge area to design a device, piece of equipment, app, or other solution that helps them live more independently. Over the course of the term, each team meets with its "client," iterates through multiple prototypes, and learns about the challenges and realities of designing assistive technologies for people with disabilities.

Past projects have included:

• an iPhone app for detecting clothing colors and patterns to help a blind person dress independently;
• binoculars for a birdwatching enthusiastic that are accessible without the use of her hands;
• a bicycle with sensing and a haptic interface designed for a blind rider;
• an Android-based task reminder and sequencing system for a person with a brain injury causing deficits in working memory
• a blind-accessible modification to an otherwise inaccessible espresso machine
• a customized mouse event handler for someone using only his eyes to control the mouse;
• voice-controlled tablet-based software to control various aspects of the user's environment;
• a custom "no-spill" spoon for a person with a spinal cord injury to eat more easily.

Notes:

• We seek undergraduate and graduate students from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines. Any experience in design is helpful, but not necessary.
• Small teams of two to four students will complement each other's skill sets.
• Along with the project, the course includes guest lectures from clinicians in rehabilitation, human-computer interface experts, product designers, and people living with physical or cognitive impairments, as well as lab exercises in which students use and evaluate various assistive technologies.
• For Course 6 students: This subject will satisfy the EECS AUS requirement in Fall 2014. Or it can instead be used as an EECS Department Lab.
• In Course 2, PPAT qualifies as a concentration subject in the CIR track

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Tags: seth teller assistive technology