The Advanced Rehabilitation Research and Training Program (ARRT) seeks to train leaders in rehabilitation research who can harness advances in physical computing and fabrication to enhance community living and participation among people with disabilities.
Training combines rehabilitation expertise, making, and community partnerships that promote individuals with disabilities as experts in their own lives to help define, create, and test novel assistive technology (AT) solutions. Trainees participate in a 24-month intensive program that provide integrated experiences in physical computing, fabrication, disability studies, and community engagement.
Physical computing and accessibility
Blending disciplines of engineering, computer science, rehabilitation technology, and the maker movement, physical computing can be used to enhance community living and participation by producing solutions for use in daily life. Physical computing technology, now widely available, includes 3D-modeling software and machines such as laser cutters, 3D-printers, knitting machines, and programmable embroidery machines.
Physical computing uses consumer-grade fabrication and computing technology to create objects that can revolutionize the range and customizability of assistive technology available to people with disabilities. The largest area where physical computing has intersected accessibility thus far is in the development of specialized tools for creating AT. These tools can be iteratively designed and shared to produce custom grips, levers, guides, and other devices for daily life.
Examples of current advances in physical computing include:
- 3D-printed tactile maptiles that can convey complex spatial information to support travel and navigation outside the home
- A custom cello bow-holding prosthetic and other bespoke solutions that support participation in extracurricular and classroom activities
- A kayak control system that supports blind rowing and a 3D-printed prosthetic arm with gripper for ice hockey to increase participation in sports and other physical activities
- Making inaccessible interfaces – such as touch screens on phones, appliances, and other devices – accessible using custom tactile interactions
Critical shortage of trained personnel
Improving assistive technology design and implementation is essential in facilitating access for people with disabilities to live and participate in their communities. Physical computing is already demonstrably improving community living and participation, but there is a shortage of people qualified to harness, deliver, and advance physical computing for rehabilitation research. Many organizations have found it incredibly difficult to find personnel with the required expertise in both rehabilitation and physical computing to bridge the gap from ideas to community.
Community partnerships
CREATE seeks to pair local organizations with an interest in using physical computing to enhance rehabilitation, community living, and participation for people with disabilities with our ARRT Fellows. Fellows embed with the community organization (e.g., 2+ days/week) for 6 months during their first year. This is an opportunity to:
- Learn the mission, history, and future goals of the organization,
- Examine opportunities to leverage physical computing to support community living and participation,
- Identify co-designers – partners with disabilities who will engage with the Fellow throughout the research process.
These relationships can be facilitated by CREATE’s strong Community Partners program.
ARRT is funded by a five-year, $1M grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR).
NEWS ABOUT CREATE’S ARRT POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS
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February 26, 2026 In January, CREATE and HuskyADAPT teamed up with the King County Library System (KCLS) to host a mini-hackathon to brainstorm and prototype solutions to accessibility problems. After an introduction to five real-world requests submitted by the disability community, participants self-selected their projects and got to work building their prototypes. These diverse teams…
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CHI 2025: CREATE Papers and Presentations
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Coffee Chat Recaps - Winter 2025
March 4, 2025 CREATE has initiated Coffee Chats – one or two opportunities per month for conversation among faculty, student, staff, and industry and community partners. Topics have included opportunities for student involvement in CREATE, how researchers can benefit from community-engaged research, and where to find funding for research. These meetings have proved useful for…
Former CREATE postdoc Sasha Portnova talks about her experiences and inspirations
November 22, 2024 Dr. Alexandra (Sasha) Portnova, a postdoctoral researcher with CREATE in 2022-24, was interviewed about those experiences as a NIDILRR-funded fellow and about her work in rehabilitation research. In the National Rehabilitation Information Center interview, Portnova spoke about the value of the CREATE ARRT fellowship in transitioning from the overwhelming life as a…
HuskyADAPT Mini Hackathon: Adaptive Solutions
November 18, 2024 This month, CREATE's ARRT postdocs and HuskyADAPT students collaborated to put on an impressive and successful hackathon. The team worked with our partners King County Library Systems and Washington Assistive Technology Act Program on the event where teams designed adaptations to everyday challenges for people with disabilities. All six teams came up with…
CREATE at ASSETS 2024: Papers & Workshops
September 25, 2024 CREATE faculty, students, and alumni had a large presence at ASSETS 2024, the international ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility. If we missed any CREATE research, please email Liz Diether-Martin with the details. Awards ASSETS 2024 Best Paper Award:Engaging with Children's Artwork in Mixed Visual-Ability FamiliesArnavi Chheda-Kothary, Jacob O. Wobbrock (CREATE associate…
CREATE Papers and Presentations at CHI 2024
This is a work in progress as there are many papers and presentations from CREATE researchers at CHI 2024, the ACM CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. We appreciate your patience! For a list of all papers from UW researchers, see DUB's roundup. Papers A Virtual Reality Scene Taxonomy: Identifying and Designing Accessible…
CREATE Papers and Awards at SIGCHI 2024
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UW News: Can AI help boost accessibility? CREATE researchers tested it for themselves
November 2, 2023 | UW News Generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, an AI-powered language tool, and Midjourney, an AI-powered image generator, can potentially assist people with various disabilities. They could summarize content, compose messages, or describe images. Yet they also regularly spout inaccuracies and fail at basic reasoning, perpetuating ableist biases. This year, seven CREATE researchers conducted a…
CREATE Papers and Posters at ASSETS 2023
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Postdoc Research Spotlight: Making Biosignal Interfaces Accessible
April 11, 2023 The machines and devices we use every day – for example, touch screens, gas pedals, and computer track pads – interpret our actions and intentions via sensors. But these sensors are designed based on assumptions about our height, strength, dexterity, and abilities. When they aim for the average person (who does not…
Postdoctoral Fellowship application open: Accessibility researcher in physical computing and fabrication
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$1M NIDILRR award for leadership training program
A team of CREATE faculty has received a five-year, $1M grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) for the project, "ARRT: Postdoctoral Training in Physical Computing and Fabrication to Support Innovations for Community Living and Participation." Congratulations on the funding to the team members: Co-PI Jennifer Mankoff, Ph.D and…