"INTELLIGENT INTERFACE FOR IMPROVED COMMUNICATION BETWEEN HANDICAPPED PERSONS AND COMPUTERS AND ROBOTS".

MANY HANDICAPPED PERSONS ARE RESTRICTED BECAUSE THEY LACK THE NECESSARY CAPABILITIES TO INTERFACE EFFECTIVELY WITHIN ATECHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY. HOWEVER, TECHNOLOGY ITSELF HAS PROVIDED SOME COMPENSATION FOR A NUMBER OF PHYSICAL LINITAT IONS THROUGH THE USE OF COMPUTERS. YET, THERE REMAINS THE NEED TO APPLY INTELLIGENT INTERFACES BETWEEN HANDICAPPED PERSONS AND COMPUTERS AND ROBOTS TO ACHIEVE RAPID AND ACCURATE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF COMPLEX TASKS. THIS PROPOSAL SUGGESTS THE USE OF HANDICAPPED USER EXTENSIBLE, RULE-BASED INTERFACE SOFTWARE FOR ENHANCED COMMUNICATION WITH COMPUTERSAND ROBOTS. THE TARGET OF OPPORTUNITY IS THE COMBINATION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND ADAPTIVE SOFTWARE TO PROVIDE AN EFFICIENT COMMUNICATION LINK FOR HANDICAPPED PERSONS THROUGHTHE USE OF COMPUTER-GRAPHICS SIMULATION OF ROBOT ACTIONS, THE DEVELOPMENT OF APPLICATION-TRANSPARENT SOFTWARE AND THE UTILIZATION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHIQUES TO TRANS LATE HANDICAPPED-USER DIRECTIVES. SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THE PHASE I PROGRAM SHOULD RESULT IN THE CONCEPTUAL DESIGN OF AN INTERFACE FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT AND EXTENSIVE TEST ING IN THE PHASE II OF THE PROGRAM.