Ab.Acus people are strongly active in R&D environment thanks to long-term collaborations with research institutes and universities both in Europe and abroad.

Research is carried on in the following fields:

Gerontechnology: current research in the area approaches both the rehabilitation aspects, as in the SMILING project, and the pursuing of independent living as in the Happy Ageing project.
The aim of the SMILING project, co-funded by the European Commission within the FP7 programme, is the design and setup of innovative training program to improve the walking function in the elderly persons. Within the SMILING project, Ab.Acus is in charge of the technical co-ordination and the development of software tools to manage training and rehabilitation tasks to be performed by the elderly patients wearing special training shoes, the SMILING shoes.
The Happy Ageing project is a AAL (Ambient Assisted Living) project aimed at the development of a device for daily life support.
The Happy Ageing system consists of three integrated modules, called Lifestyle Monitor, Personal Assistant and Navigation Assistant devoted to specific functions.
Within the Happy Ageing project, Ab.Acus is in charge of technical design and coordination.

Assistive Technologies (AT): current activities refer to the design and development of new AT solutions as in the MUNDUS project, and to definition of innovative design and development frameworks and approaches aimed at facilitating the integration of AT devices in mainstream products and systems.
The MUNDUS project aims at the design and development of an innovative and modular system to support, complete and substitute upper limb functions for persons with severe and progressive disabilities.
Within the MUNDUS project, Ab.Acus will take care of the technological management, aiming at the design and development of an usable and accessible system and will design a RFID based solution for the management of hand reaching and grasping functions.
Referring to the wider scope research activities aimed at a better usability and accessibility of mainstream products, Ab.Acus is currently mainly interested on videogames design and development .

Neuropsychology: current research activities on motion analysis in the neuropsychological field are carried on in co-operation with the University of Padua (General Psychology Department) and Children Institute of Trieste Burlo Garofalo.
Research topics include reaching and grasping investigation and pre-birth motion study.
Ab.Acus developed a devoted software for motion analysis on 4D ultrasound images, with the aim to investigate prebirth motion patterns. The research is currently focused on upper limb movements both towards the fetus own body but also towards the twin body, in the case of twin pregnancies.
Specific investigation of the upper limb motion, focusing on reaching and grasping functions, is carried on both on videoclips, by means of a devoted software developed by Ab.Acus, and on 3D kinematic data acquired with several commercial motion analysis systems. A devoted software package allows the extraction of the main motion parameters.

Dissemination material and references:

The SMILING project: an overview (poster presentation)
The HAPPY AGEING project: an overview (poster presentation)

Telehealth and Assistive Technology, November 2-4 2009, Cambridge, Massachussets, USA
M. Bulgheroni, E. D'Amico, S. Bar-Haim, D. Carus, C. Harrison, F. Marcellini, The SMILING project: Prevention of falls by a mechatronic training device (full paper)
M. Bulgheroni and E. d'Amico TAT 2009 slides presentation

Castiello U, Becchio C, Zoia S, Nelini C, Sartori L, Blason L, D'Ottavio G, Bulgheroni M, Gallese V Wired to Be Social: The Ontogeny of Human Interaction. PLoS ONE 5(10): e13199. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013199, 2010
Sartori L, Becchio C, Bulgheroni M, Castiello U Modulation of the action control system by social intention: unexpected social requests override preplanned action J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2009 Oct;35(5):1490-500
Castiello U, Ansuini C, Bulgheroni M, Scaravilli T, Nicoletti R Visuomotor priming effects in Parkinson's disease patients depend on the match between the observed and the executed action Neuropsychologia. 2009 Feb;47(3):835-42
Becchio C, Sartori L, Bulgheroni M, Castiello U Both your intention and mine are reflected in the kinematics of my reach-to-grasp movement Cognition. 2008 Feb;106(2):894-912
Becchio C, Sartori L, Bulgheroni M, Castiello U The case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: a kinematic study on social intention Conscious Cogn. 2008 Sep;17(3):557-64

Zoia S, Pezzetta E, Blason L, Scabar A, Carrozzi M, Bulgheroni M, Castiello U A Comparison of the Reach-To-Grasp Movement Between Children and Adults: A Kinematic Study Dev Neuropsychol. 2006;30(2):719-38

Zoia S, Blason L, D'Ottavio G, Bulgheroni M, Pezzetta E, Scabar A, Castiello U Evidence of early development of action planning in the human foetus: a kinematic study Exp Brain Res. 2007 Jan;176(2):217-26