Communication via Pictograms: Successful Use of App Developed at UASTW

One of the aims of the Knowledge Hub for Accessible Technologies research project is to make assistive technologies developed in previous projects available to a wider public. This has now been achieved very well in the case of AsTeRICS Grid, a tool for augmentative and alternative communication developed at the UAS Technikum Wien: Through a cooperation with the Spanish organization ARASAAC , the application could be further improved and made more practical – and has now made it to international prominence.

2,000 Users Daily

ARASAAC is a globally established organization in the field of AAC and began promoting AsTeRICS Grid via the social networks Instagram, Facebook and Twitter at the beginning of September. Since then, user numbers have really exploded. Around 2,000 users from all over the world visit the website every day, mainly from Spain and Spanish-speaking countries, but also from many other destinations around the globe. The app developed at the UAS Technikum Wien is thus on the verge of becoming a world-renowned software in the field of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC).

App Enables Communication via Pictograms

The field of AAC from the area of Assistive Technologies deals with solutions that are designed to support people with missing or insufficient spoken language in communication. These can be people with cognitive or severe motor impairments. One possibility for aids in this area are apps such as AsTeRICS Grid, which, among other things, enable simple communication via pictograms. The tool has the additional advantage that, unlike many other apps in the field, it is free and available as an open-source program. This was made possible through development in the MA23-funded research projects at the Technikum.

Use in Practice

For the application of AsTeRICS Grid, a pilot project with the Floridsdorf Clinic has been running for some time. In cooperation with the umbrella organization of the Viennese social institutions, the goal is to make AsTeRICS Grid available on the patient terminals of the hospital. The Vienna AKH has also already expressed interest in the application.

The tool was recently successfully used in practice with a patient in the Donaustadt nursing home. The app was installed there in combination with self-developed hardware on the eye control device that had not worked for him until then. After about one and a half years, it is now possible for the patient to communicate independently again. In the meantime, he is using another system developed by the UASTW team, with which he can control a PC completely independently.