A survey on the influence of CYBATHLON on the development and acceptance of advanced assistive technologies

BACKGROUND: Advanced assistive technologies (AAT) aim to exploit the vast potential of technological developments made in the past decades to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities. Combining complex robotic technologies with the unique needs of people with disabilities requires a strong focus on user-centered design to ensure that the AAT appropriately addresses the daily life struggles of target users. The CYBATHLON aims to promote this mindset by empowering the AAT target users (“pilots”) to compete on race tracks that represent approximations of daily life obstacles. The objective of this work was to investigate the AAT technology development, usability, and user involvement (i.e., application of user-centered design) in the context of the CYBATHLON. METHODS: With an online survey targeting the pilots and technical leads of teams preparing for the CYBATHLON 2020 Global Edition, we investigated to what extent the pilots were involved in device development and how this influences the perceived usability of the showcased AAT. Furthermore, the effects of user-centered design variables on the individual race performances were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 81 responses from 35 pilots and 46 technical leads were collected in the two weeks prior to the event. Of all teams partaking in the included disciplines of the CYBATHLON 2020 Global Edition, 81.8% (36 of 44) were included in the study. User-centered design appeared to be a prevalent practice among the teams, as 85.7% of all pilots reported a certain level of involvement. However, only 25.5% of the pilots reported daily life usage, despite QUEST usability scores of both respondent groups showing moderate to high satisfaction with the respected AAT across all investigated disciplines. An explorative linear mixed model indicated that daily life usage (p < 0.05) and prolonged user involvement (e.g., more than 2 years, p < 0.001) have a significant positive effect on the race performance at the competition. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the CYBATHLON positively fulfills its conceptual goals of promoting active participation and inclusion of people with disabilities in the design and evaluation of AAT, thereby stimulating the development of promising novel technological solutions. Also, our data could underline the value of the competition as a benchmark, highlighting remaining usability limitations or technology adoption hurdles. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12984-022-01015-5.