Overview of mobile sensing for special needs: Lessons learned from I can workshop

Abstract

There is nothing more frustrating than being unable to react, hear various noises, see the sunlight, effectively communicate with other humans, or mobilize. Our ability to do so is one of the keystones of what it means to be human, and the very base of our civilization and knowledge. At King Saud University, we have run a workshop to explore and classify the main portable and mobile technologies used for Special Needs and to highlight some of the underexplored sensors or devices which might be help special needs, ranging from motion detection for visually impaired to GPS tracking in the shoes of Dementia sufferers. In this paper we sum up some of our ideas and basic findings during the workshop. Beside some of the future research opportunities and challenges in this area are discussed.