In April 2019 careables visited the Asterics Foundation and the Smart Homes & Assistive Technology research group at the Fachhochschule Technikum in Vienna, Austria.

The Asterics Foundation is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the development and application of Open Source Assistive Technology (AT) for people with disabilities. The often personalised solutions offered by Asterics have been developed at the University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien (Fachhochschule Technikum) and are available for others to use and adapt.

Asterics’ devices

Here is one example, that impressed us: Asterics provides DIY-construction kits for the FLipMouse input device, which are built by students during the course of their academic study. These assembled FLipMouse devices are then donated to individuals with severely reduced motor abilities. For more information see Mousehub.

You can also find two careables from Asterics on our portal: the FLipMouse and FABI- the Flexible Assistive Button Interface.

Assistive button

During our visit we were shown around by Chris Veigl, one of the initiators of the AsTeRICS research project (EU FP7, 2010-2013), which laid the basis for further R&D projects in the sector of ICT-based Assistive Technology at the Technikum Wien. He currently acts as the chairman of the AsTeRICS foundation.

Chris showed us the whole Smart Home lab they have created to test their assistive technologies in a home-like setting.