Wearable Devices and {IoT} as Enablers of Assistive Technologies

In assistive technology scenarios, this paper investigates how wearable devices may be used as smart solutions for accessing computers. We focus our attention on a smartwatch available on the consumer market; by using an open source middleware, based on low cost embedded systems, we propose to develop custom apps to process data from smartwatch's resources (e.g., sensors) and send them to a Linux single board computer. The latter component plays a critical role because it converts received data into raw input signals for a connected computer by emulating a standard mouse or a keyboard. Since the process requires no software installation on the target device, the user with a disability benefits from a single personalized equipment to control a wide range of computer devices, including traditional personal computers, tablets and smartphones. Additionally, the embedded system accesses the Internet and it takes advantage of the container-based virtualization technology to customize on demand its behaviour according to user's needs and preferences.