The INSENSION project will create an ICT platform that enables persons with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) to use digital applications and services that can enhance the quality of their lives, increase their ability to self-determination and enrich their lives. The target end users of the proposed solution are capable of using only nonconventional, nonsymbolic means of interaction with their environment. Therefore, the platform aims to provide technological means for seamless, and adaptable recognition of a range of highly individual nonsymbolic behavioral signals of people with PMLD to detect behavioral patterns happening in the context of specific situations. These patterns are translated into the affective ‘intents’ of the end user (their approval or disapproval to the given situation) and allow to communicate them to assistive services. This way an individual with PMLD gains a possibility to seamlessly influence their living environment, through new means of communication with other people, changing conditions of their environment or use new types of assistive digital applications. The project employs recent advances in a range of ICT disciplines equipping the proposed assistive ICT platform with natural behavior recognition mechanisms based on gesture, facial expression and vocalization recognition technologies. This is complemented by novel techniques of artificial intelligence and state-of-the-art Internet of Things models. The research and development of the project is conducted within the inclusive design paradigm, with individual with PMLD and their caregivers directly participating in the R+D process throughout the whole duration of the project. This process links a highly interdisciplinary team of experts of ICT specialists and researchers and practitioners of disability studies and care, with due participation of an assistive technology industry representatives.

Useful ICT innovations are continuously developed improving the quality of life for many people. However, such solutions do not typically included people with severe dual vision and hearing impairments, and at times also coupled with cognitive disability. Deafblindness is a grave condition. Though, rare at birth, it can be acquired due to different causes. There is an estimated 2.5 M deafblind persons in the EU. Limited communication is a major problem for this group; something that will be addressed by SUITCEYES in a novel way. Benefits are not limited to this group; rather the solution will scale to other areas. SUITCEYES proposes a new, intelligent, flexible and expandable mode of haptic communication via soft interfaces. Based on user needs and informed by disability studies, the project combines smart textiles, sensors, semantic technologies, image processing, face and object recognition, machine learning, and gamification. It will address three challenges: perception of the environment; communication and exchange of semantic content; learning and joyful life experiences. SUITCEYES will extract and map the inner structure of high-dimensional, environmental and linguistic clues to low-dimensional spaces, which then translate into haptic signals. It will also utilize image processing, mapping environmental data to be used for enriched semantic reasoning. SUITCEYES’ intelligent haptic interface will help the users to learn activation patterns by a new medium. With this interface, users will be able to take more active part in society, improving possibilities for inclusion in social life and employment. The solution will be developed in a user-centred iterative design process, with frequent evaluations and optimizations. The users’ learning experiences will be enriched through gamification and mediated social interactions. The proposed solution will take into account the potential differences in levels of impairments and user capabilities and adapt accordingly.

Current emergency systems and 112 services are based on legacy telecommunication technologies, which cannot cope with IP-based services that European citizens use every day. Some of the related limitations are the partial media support (so far, only voice calls and SMS are accepted), the lack of integration of social media, and the use of an analog modem for providing eCall services with limited data amount. As most operators have started migrating towards broadband IP-based infrastructures, current emergency systems need also to be upgraded/adapted in order to fulfill regulatory requirements in terms of Next Generation emergency services. Τhe main objective of EMYNOS project is the design and implementation of a Next Generation platform capable of accommodating rich-media emergency calls that combine voice, text, and video, thus constituting a powerful tool for coordinating communication among citizens, call centers and first responders. Additionally, issues such as call routing/redirection to the closest-available call center, retrieval of the caller location, hoax calls prevention, support for people with disabilities, and integration of social media will be addressed. EMYNOS will enable users to make emergency calls across heterogeneous devices (e.g. PCs, TV sets, mobile, AAC and haptic devices) using various mature technologies, including those making use of the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), and WebRTC framework. EMYNOS will also demonstrate how the eCall concept can benefit from the IP technologies by allowing audio-video calls towards the emergency call centers and complementing location information, with photos and videos. EMYNOS involves partners with complementary expertise (telecom/satellite operator, VoIP provider, eCall testers, end users), which together form the chain for the provision of emergency services and which will deliver the EMYNOS demonstrator that will be validated in operational environment (TRL 7)