PASSO Project: Design of a Smart System Using Biofeedback to Train People with Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract

This paper describes the design process of a smart system monitoring and training the gait and posture of people with Parkinson’s disease. The project aimed to develop an innovative mHealth system and validate it in a laboratory context. The designed solution is supposed to help people in postponing the rise of the most impairing symptoms and prolong autonomy. The project was divided into three main design cycles regarding respectively the design and test of sensory signals, the smart wearable devices transmitting them, and the system interface. The multidisciplinary team involved in the project followed a User-Centered methodology, involving users in the design process to improve the system’s usability and accessibility. The adopted methodological strategy led to satisfactory results and proved to be particularly suitable for multidisciplinary design processes involving both human and technological factors related to the development of smart systems targeted to niche users.