Motti & Wittman To Study Assistive Wearable Technology
Vivian Genaro Motti (Associate Professor, Information Sciences and Technology) and Sarah Wittman (Assistant Professor, School of Business) are set to receive funding from the National Science Foundation for the project: "FW-HTF-RL: Success via a Human-Assistive Wearable Technology Partnership Fostering Neurodiverse Individuals' Work Success via an Assistive Wearable Technology." The grant also counts on the collaboration of Anya Evmenova, Professor in the College of Education and Human Development.
The goal of this project is to empower neurodiverse individuals in their workplace experience and accessibility, using a human-assistive technology partnership to improve subjective and objective work success.
This multi-disciplinary project incorporates diverse areas of expertise to bridge from the present (85 percent unemployment) to this desired future. The multidisciplinary research team will study how assistive wearable technology, a smartwatch application, can improve neurodiverse individuals' work success.
The application will monitor performance, recognize hand gestures, and intervene with prompts.
To answer fundamental research questions, the study will involve adults with autism spectrum disorders and attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) (comprising 7.5 and 12.76 million American adults, respectively), employable within the stockers and order fillers occupation (O*NET; 53-7065.00), whose hand movements generalize to industries beyond retail (which alone comprises 28.67 million U.S. workers).
Data collected through a series of user studies will be analyzed to answer this research question: How can assistive wearable technology improve subjective (self-efficacy, job satisfaction, independence) and objective (executive function, productivity, accuracy) markers of work success for neurodiverse workers?
First, a controlled laboratory experiment will result in recognition models built from wearable sensor data (inertial measurement units) adapted for work tasks. Then, via controlled experiments (nine 3x3x2 studies), the technology will be tested assessing how it can effectively improve subjective (self-efficacy, job satisfaction, independence) and objective (executive function, productivity, accuracy) work success for neurodiverse individuals considering work time and environment. Lastly, a three-week workplace field study will test real-world efficacy and build guidelines around work times, tasks, and spaces for this technology.
The project outcomes contribute to wearable technology, supporting job tasks with a personalized design to make future work more inclusive and equitable for the neurodiverse. This work advances a paradigm shift for the neurodiverse in research and work: from passive individuals who are largely acted upon to self-determinant agentic self-advocates.
Motti and Wittman will receive $1,871,692 from NSF for this project. Funding will begin in Jan. 2024 and will end in late Dec. 2027.
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