EIB Bus as a key technology for integrating people with disabilities. A case study

Abstract

In the last few years many systems have been designed to facilitate the integration of disabled people (PWD´s), particularly those with severe problems of movement, caused in many cases by brain paralysis. The approaches that have been taken have supplied valid solution but always at the cost of being based outside integrated, commercial and flexible system. The has made the co-operation between the different groups of researchers specialising in this subject difficult. Our aim in this project has been the design and development of an intelligent home control system (control of the house enviroment), accesible to people with different grades of disability and to those who retain all their inheret functions; the called "design for everyone". The development has been realised in collaboration with the "Tutelary Association of the Disabled" ASTUS of Cartagena. To this end, a demostration model of the system has been designed, which combines all the basic control functions, and wich has permitted the development and debugging of the software and hardware elements necessary in our centre of investigation. Since the demostration model is now operative, the system will be installed in the house of a disabled user (still in development), i.e., a "real case" application. The proposed solution takes advantage of the great flexibility that the EIB system offers, as well as the numerous tools available for development of new applications in this area.