Smart clothing and furniture for supporting participation-co-creation concepts for daily living

Abstract

Participation and social inclusion influence individuals’ health and well-being. These factors can be easily disturbed, especially for those with disabilities. Designers and engineers have tried harnessing technology to assist people via producing prototypes of assistive devices, such as smart clothing and furniture. This study approaches that user surface and inspects the user’s needs for participation through clothing and furniture. We thus arranged two similar workshops with student participants (n = 37) from four different educational units, creating 10 innovative concepts to support participation and social inclusion. All aimed to support participation via improved self-regulation, increased safety, or environmental control. Most of the concepts were connectible to another device, such as a mobile phone. All devices were made adjustable to meet personal preferences. This study aligns with previous ones by concluding that assistive technology should be unobtrusive, give timely responses, and interact with other devices. These initial concepts are ready to be turned into tangible prototypes. Article highlightsParticipation and social inclusion have remarkable meaning for an individual’s well-being and health. Commonly, assistive technology aims to solve challenges in daily living by promoting health and well-being. For this reason, we arranged two similar co-creation workshops and asked the participants to innovate smart clothing and furniture concepts that will promote greater participation and more social inclusion.This study also identified users’ needs, such as increased safety and independence, supported communication, self-regulation and awareness, and an effective learning tool.The majority of the concepts were designed to be adjustable to meet personal preferences, let individuals interact with other devices (such as a mobile phone), and give timely responses.