Challenges with Traditional Human-Centered Design for Developing Neurorehabilitation Software.

Within our project E-BRAiN (Evidence-Based Robotic Assistance in Neurorehabilitation) we have been developing software for training tasks for patients after stroke. It is the idea of the project that a humanoid robot is instructing and observing the performance of patients. The paper discusses the challenges of developing such interactive system with an interdisciplinary development team. Goals and rules are different for clinicians, psychologists, sociologists and computer scientists. There are different traditions in those sciences. Therefore, evaluations with patients have to be planned much more carefully than with traditional users of interactive systems. The role of task models, storyboards and prototypes in the domain of neurohabilitation are discussed in connection with an experience report of the E-BRAiN project.