Workplan

The work has been fragmented into 7 work packages (WP), each of them broken down into more specifically defined Activities.

WP1 is the coordination and management WP led by consortium leader BDCT. It goes throughout the project and includes all project implementation tasks which are described in detail in Section 2 of this proposal, such as organization of meetings, coordination with the EC officers, and follow-up of milestones and deliverables completion.

WP2 is the transversal Research and Technology Development (RTD) WP, led by industry partner G.TEC. Because BrainAble project is devoted to multidisciplinary Research in a number of areas, mainly HCI and assistive technologies, it has a strong industrial vocation. WP2 will lead the path to product development, and encompasses the development life cycle typical of an ICT development project, which starts from analysis of specifications and requirements into design and architecture, implementation cycles to finish with integration and packaging. WP2 runs therefore along the whole project.

The third transversal package is WP6, which is the user’s WP, so it is led by end-user partner ANET, supported by medical partner FPING and neuroscience partner UPF. The core task of WP6 is the iterative and participative user-centred design which includes 3 sequential design-demonstration-validation-design cycles. The package includes as well an empirical research about the effect of the use of BrainAble in counteracting the common cognitive decline of motor disabled people, led by FPING; and other demonstration and validation activities. Patients (disabled users) will be provided by ANET and FPING and healthy user groups by TU-GRAZ, UPF and G.TEC.

The other 3 Research packages are WP3, WP4 and WP5.

WP3 is led by academic lab TU-GRAZ and is devoted to HCI, and more specifically, research of multimodal sensing with BNCI and affective computing sensors for active and passive control. WP3 is the key research WP and TU-GRAZ is supported in this research by G.TEC and UPF. WP4, led by UPF lab, complements WP3 with research in adaptive VR based environments, as BrainAble’s novel HCI is made of BNCI-related sensing to interact with an immersive environment.

WP4, led by UPF lab, complements WP3 with research in adaptive VR based environments, as BrainAble’s novel HCI is made of BNCI-related sensing to interact with an immersive environment.

WP5, led by BDCT tech centre and supported by industry partner METI will research on the ICT services to be managed by the HCI, that is to say, AmI and social networking services. Research in this WP is dedicated to assistive networks of accessible and interoperable home and urban devices, and knowledge representation artefacts for social inclusion.

Last but not least, WP7 is the dissemination and exploitation work package, led by industry partner METI, which concentrates the efforts to study IPR strategy, and implement activities for the dissemination and use of the research. The figure above illustrates the breakdown of the work plan into work packages and their interdependencies.