Design of a hand-held user interface for the active joint brace

Abstract

The continued development of the Active Joint Brace, a powered orthosis, required that a suitable user interface be designed to control the brace. Since the brace is an electronically-controlled mechanical, medical device, it was important that the user interface (UI) provide both a proper interface to the software that controls the brace, and be in conformance with human factors data. The constraints provided by the existing electronics and software of the brace, combined with suitable ergonomic data, were used to inform the design of a hand-held user interface device, pictured below. The UI features one-handed operation, utilizing an LCD character display and speaker for output devices and a navigation switch for an input device. In preparation for the new UI, the existing menu system was also reorganized for ease-of-use. In preliminary user testing within the development team, the UI has been judged as satisfactory, with only a few minor changes needed to the enclosure.