Dit essay geeft een systeemvisie op het ontwikkelen van embedded software voor slimme systemen: (mobiele) robots en sensornetwerken.
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Robotic services, which have started to appear in urbanenvironments, are going to transform our society.Designers of these robots are not only required tomeet technical and legal challenges, but also addressthe potential social, political, and ethical consequencesof their design choices. In this paper, we present aworkshop format with its related tools intendedfor enabling speculation about such possible futuresand fostering reflection on potential socio-ethicalimplications that might support/oppose these futures.We report the results and discussion of one particularworkshop case, in which the implementation of twoparticular robotic services for a city was envisionedand questioned, i.e., surveillance and delivery of goods.By discussing the results, we illustrate how such aworkshop format might be beneficial for setting theagenda for a more conscious design of urban robots andorienting future research towards meaningful themesrelated to the emerging coexistence scenarios betweencitizens and robots.
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The HARMONY project supports and enables several metropolitan areas to lead a sustainable transition to a low-carbon new mobility era. For city logistics, innovative services and developments can serve as promising solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption in metropolitan areas. The focus of this paper is on the importance of co-creation to achieve the desired reduction in emissions, including both engagement activities and (small scale) demonstrations. The constant and simultaneous involvement of cities, service and technology providers, research entities but also the civil society, is crucial for identifying success factors and lessons learnt.
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Assistive Technology (AT) is any technology that supports people with functional difficulties to perform their daily activities with less difficulty and/or obstruction, thus contributing to a more fulfilling life. This refers to people of all ages and to all kinds of functional limitations, either permanent or temporary. Assistive products can be traditional physical products, such as wheelchairs, eyeglasses, hearing aids, or prostheses, but they can also be special input devices, care robots, computers with accessible software, apps for smartphones, home automation solutions, virtual realities, etc. It is essential to understand that AT involves more than just familiar products, and that it also includes knowledge about the personalized selection of appropriate solutions, provisions, and services, as well as the training of all parties involved, the measurement of outcomes and impacts, awareness of ethical issues, etc.
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This article delves into the acceptance of autonomous driving within society and its implications for the automotive insurance sector. The research encompasses two different studies conducted with meticulous analysis. The first study involves over 600 participants involved with the automotive industry who have not yet had the opportunity to experience autonomous driving technology. It primarily centers on the adaptation of insurance products to align with the imminent implementation of this technology. The second study is directed at individuals who have had the opportunity to test an autonomous driving platform first-hand. Specifically, it examines users’ experiences after conducting test drives on public roads using an autonomous research platform jointly developed by MAPFRE, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. The study conducted demonstrates that the user acceptance of autonomous driving technology significantly increases after firsthand experience with a real autonomous car. This finding underscores the importance of bringing autonomous driving technology closer to end-users in order to improve societal perception. Furthermore, the results provide valuable insights for industry stakeholders seeking to navigate the market as autonomous driving technology slowly becomes an integral part of commercial vehicles. The findings reveal that a substantial majority (96% of the surveyed individuals) believe that autonomous vehicles will still require insurance. Additionally, 90% of respondents express the opinion that policies for autonomous vehicles should be as affordable or even cheaper than those for traditional vehicles. This suggests that people may not be fully aware of the significant costs associated with the systems enabling autonomous driving when considering their insurance needs, which puts the spotlight back on the importance of bringing this technology closer to the general public.
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Discussions about the importance of the built environment for healthcare delivery extend at least as far back as Hippocrates 1 (400 BC). The iconic Florence Nightingale (1859) also strongly believed in the influence the indoor environment has on the progress of disease and recovery. Today, the role of the built environment in the healing process is of growing interest to healthcare providers, environmental psychologists, consultants, and architects. Although there is a mounting evidence 1 linking healthcare environments to health outcomes, because of the varying quality of that evidence, there has also been a lack of clarity around what can and cannot be achieved through design. Given the ageing of society and the ever increasing numbers of persons with dementia in the Western World, the need for detailed knowledge about aged care environments has also become increasingly important. The mental and physical health state of these persons is extremely fragile and their needs demand careful consideration. Although environmental interventions constitute only a fraction of what is needed for people with dementia to remain as independent as possible, there is now sufficient evidence (2, 3) to argue they can be used as a first-line treatment, rather than beginning with farmalogical interventions.
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Transitions in health care and the increasing pace at which technological innovations emerge, have led to new professional approach at the crossroads of health care and technology. In order to adequately deal with these transition processes and challenges before future professionals access the labour market, Fontys University of Applied Sciences is in a transition to combining education with interdisciplinary practice-based research. Fontys UAS is launching a new centre of expertise in Health Care and Technology, which is a new approach compared to existing educational structures. The new centre is presented as an example of how new initiatives in the field of education and research at the intersection of care and technology can be shaped.
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Free newspapers may offer different news contents to different audiences, when compared with traditional, paid-for newspapers, but they, nevertheless, concentrate on news, and thereby provide society with information on current affairs. These papers have seen circulation rise until 2008; after that, a decline set in, leading to closures and often a monopoly situation in the mature European newspaper markets covered in our research. Free newspapers seem to follow a typical life cycle pattern, moving from growth to maturity, and to saturation and decline. Diversification strategies – home-delivery, weekend, sports, afternoon, and financial – have been disappointing so far. There is no evidence, however, of total extinction, indicating that there is room for at least one title – possibly two – in every market. The situation in the surveyed markets also suggests that a free newspaper may be a ‘natural’ monopoly.
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