Establishing initial user requirements for PAM-AID: a mobility and support device to assist frail and elderly visually impaired persons

The PAM-AID project aims to build an intelligent, indoor mobility aid for frail and elderly visually impaired people which will provide both physical and navigational support for walking. The objective is to allow users to retain their personal autonomy and also to take independent exercise. The project involves ongoing user involvement and evaluations of the developing product. The project has five distinct phases: (1) user requirements elicitation, (2) rapid prototyping, (3) construction of a demonstrator, (4) user and carer training, and (5) system validation. This paper reports on the first two phases of the project.