An Example of Autism Co-Design: Physiological Sensor-driven Ecological Momentary Assessment Application

When designing new sensors and sensor applications, there are often well-defined use cases to justify the research. When the use case is a target group of people, appropriate collaboration methods can be beneficial. Utilizing methodologies such as co-design and Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) can provide suggestions and answers to design questions, study methods, understandability, and general engagement. While these practices are very common within healthcare research, they are less ubiquitous within engineering, with many projects designing their systems for groups rather than with groups. While the overall project associated with this paper focuses on creating a tool to assist in emotional regulation with autistic adults, this paper provides an example of how to integrate co-design and PPIE in sensor and sensor application design projects. It details PPIE completed over the project thus far, with outcome and impacts shared for future research to apply. Some suggestions include graphical recommendations for emotion association, ecological momentary assessment survey considerations, and study methodology recommendations. Following a data collection study, with 7 Autistic participants, this paper reflects on the successes and limitations of the study with the collaborators, providing quantitative and qualitative data on engagement, compliance, and preferences.