Rehabilitation technology: exploitation of R&D and current technologies

This paper summarizes the contributions made by all of the authors in Session (1) of the 1st TIDE Congress and highlights the potentialities for exploitation of research and developments in areas of technology relevant to aspects of interfaces relating to visual perception, facilitation of human communication, prosthetics and orthotics, robotics and signal processing. Means by which promising technological developments can be expedited for more widespread availability are discussed together with aspects of consumer involvement and teamwork through consortia of relevant expertise.