Accessible technologies
Every year, we launch grants for research projects in Accessible Technologies aimed at Spanish universities, educational institutions and business schools to foster technological solutions that improve the quality of life of people with disabilities and help reduce digital and social barriers.
Accessible Technologies
A joint initiative by Indra Group and Fundación Universia, aimed at promoting the development of innovative technologies that improve the quality of life of people with disabilities, supporting their social and employment inclusion.
Three projects will be awarded in the General Category, each receiving a grant of €25,000, while one project in the Special Category will receive an additional €10,000 to support its further development and facilitate its route to market.
10 years of partnership supporting research projects at Spanish universities
9
calls for proposals
>350
submitted projects
>150
universities
29
awarded projects
Projects awarded by call for proposals
2025 Call for proposals
EmpowerTasks Project
An inclusive digital platform designed to enable people with intellectual disabilities to access employment opportunities through digital microtasks and remote services. It combines accessible training with an artificial intelligence assistant that guides users from learning through to task execution.
CONECTA Project
Development of an immersive communication system for people with severe mobility, head control or gaze control difficulties who are unable to use conventional Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) systems.
LARA Project
Design and construction of a mobile robotic manipulator that increases the autonomy of wheelchair users in home or workplace environments.
Special Category
FastBaby 2.0 Project
A project that fosters autonomy from the earliest months of life through accessible adaptations such as 3D devices, sensors and digital tools. Through adapted interactive games, it stimulates motor, cognitive and social development.
2024 Call for proposals
FastBaby Project
Based on the importance of movement in child development, the project explores alternatives such as robotic devices and sensory stimulation tools to promote independence and learning. These solutions represent a step forward in the inclusion and development of children with motor disabilities.
LSEAVATAR Project
LSEAvatar aims to develop an avatar capable of translating a message from spoken Spanish into Spanish Sign Language using artificial intelligence techniques.
Recuperación (VR-ADAPTA) Project
The Recuperación (Recovery) project has been driven by the University of Castilla-La Mancha at its Ciudad Real campus. It includes an immersive wheelchair simulator; adapted interaction between the real hand and virtual objects to develop new object-manipulation strategies; virtual recreations of home and workplace training environments; and kinematic recording for objective progress analysis.
Special Category
RoboTEA-CHAT Project
Its purpose is to use social robots to remediate deficits in emotional processing. It focuses on rehabilitation for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder, using robots and incorporating neurobiofeedback technologies. This will enable therapists to work more efficiently, as they will no longer need to select the response provided by the robots; instead, the developed modules will do so autonomously, ensuring more fluid interaction with children.
2022-23 Call for proposals
Aiden Project
It consists of the creation of an artificial intelligence-based assistant for people with visual impairments. The assistant, which will take the form of a smartphone application, will use state-of-the-art artificial intelligence techniques to perform four tasks that are useful for people with visual disabilities.
RoboTEA Project
Its objective is to use social robots to remediate deficits in emotional processing. It focuses on rehabilitation for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder, using robots and incorporating neurobiofeedback technologies.
SENLAB-IA Project
It proposes a system for detecting and decoding lip-facial language using piezoresistive sensors based on polymers containing conductive carbon nanoparticles.
2021 Call for proposals
PredictEpi Project
This project involves the development of a device capable of predicting epileptic seizures several minutes in advance in patients with central nervous system disorders, providing both users and carers with sufficient time to prepare for and manage the seizure safely. In addition, the device will record brain electrical activity to support disease monitoring and treatment adjustment by the responsible medical team.
Virtual Typhlological Model Project
More than 36 million people worldwide are blind, 217 million have moderate or severe visual impairment, and 188 million have mild visual impairment.
Perception of the environment through sight is altered and the sense of touch has traditionally been used to compensate for this limitation. However, this sensory capability has recently been restricted due to the pandemic and mobility limitations, particularly in public spaces where the inability to physically touch objects prevents people with this type of disability from accessing information.
Considering that blind and visually impaired people, in a sense, “see through touch”, the use of Virtual Reality (VR) gloves sensitive to touch and pressure would allow them, through haptic feedback, to obtain information about virtual spaces and objects anywhere, at any time and in zero-visibility conditions.
The objective of this project is to build and implement a Virtual Typhlological Model (VTM) that serves as a substitute for traditional physical models. Haptic feedback through virtual 3D models provides a new approach to helping blind people create mental maps of different spaces and routes within buildings and architectural environments, something that is essential for effectively developing orientation and mobility skills in real-world settings.
AspieWork Project
It proposes a technological solution to improve the daily lives of people with Asperger syndrome and help them overcome workplace challenges. To achieve this, a wearable device will be developed to measure physiological signals. These signals will be digitised and analysed using artificial intelligence-based algorithms to identify patterns indicating situations that are uncomfortable or difficult for the user to manage. In addition, an application will be developed that can be downloaded onto any mobile device and will act as a psychological assistant to help manage the situation and reduce anxiety levels.
TELEDFO Project
The TELEDFO project aims to provide a physical and cognitive rehabilitation system for stroke survivors that is engaging, low cost and clinically relevant. Using a depth-camera-based capture system and a set of computational applications, users can perform guided exercises through an avatar and play games involving limb movements.
The user only requires a standard computer and the low-cost capture system, making it accessible regardless of financial circumstances.
Joint positions, joint angles and dynamic analysis data are exported to a remote database. This allows physiotherapists to monitor patient progress remotely and adjust exercises as required.
The project team is multidisciplinary and emerged from collaboration between the Multimedia Applications Laboratory at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) and the Asociación Diversidad Funcional de Osona (ADFO). It includes industrial engineers, multimedia engineers, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and neurorehabilitation specialists.
A feasibility trial has already been conducted with ADFO users, and this project seeks to scale the product in order to carry out a clinical trial with a sufficiently large patient sample and validate the effectiveness of the telerehabilitation treatment.
VISTACTO Project
The VISTACTO Project aims to demonstrate that touch can create a direct channel to the area of the brain responsible for vision, enabling people to “see” lines. These lines will be drawn on the hand using a tactile stimulator that employs a novel, energy-efficient and safe technology.
Previous projects have stimulated the hand to generate environmental maps that users interpret through the tactile patterns drawn on their hands. However, the disruptive idea behind this project is to demonstrate that users may actually visualise these patterns. The approach relies on brain plasticity: children’s neurons are capable of creating new connections between touch and vision pathways. With their participation, it becomes much more feasible to demonstrate the creation of a genuine channel between touch and vision, paving the way for future applications for people of other ages.
The tactile stimulator will consist of a small box with a matrix of points. Tiny magnets at each point will move up and down. The device will also use an innovative and highly efficient technology.
The project team is multidisciplinary, comprising experts in electronics, computer science and neuroscience from Carlos III University of Madrid, Complutense University and the University of Oviedo, together with the Spanish Centre for Subtitling and Audio Description. To date, the team has developed similar systems that have enabled blind people to map their surroundings through touch and distinguish signs, gestures and more. The objective is to make a qualitative leap so that tactile information is no longer perceived merely as touch but becomes a genuine visual stimulus for the brain.
2019 Call for proposals
Anticipa-TEA Project
The Anticipa-TEA Project is an individualised and customisable mobile application that will support children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in adapting to and anticipating new situations. This group is particularly sensitive to changes in routine, which can cause stress and lead to maladaptive behaviours, including self-injury.
The Anticipa-TEA app will facilitate gradual adaptation to upcoming situations by simulating environments such as parks, medical appointments and birthday parties through interactive maps featuring realistic scenarios and sounds. This approach seeks to reduce the negative impact that such stressful situations have on both children and their families.
The app includes three modes: “Free”, where children can explore all areas and sounds of the map freely; “Story”, which presents several stories simulating everyday activities such as going to the cinema, zoo visits or birthday parties, requiring children to complete milestones to finish the story; and “Personalised”, a highly structured mode designed to simulate each child’s real routine.
SignoEscritura Project
The “Visualising SignWriting” project aims to develop a series of tools that make it possible to use SignWriting effectively in the digital world. SignWriting is a transcription system for sign language that enables it to be written iconically as text.
An automatic SignWriting recogniser will be developed, capable of understanding texts written in this format and extracting the parameters encoded within the images that represent signed communication. This process is simpler than video recognition, which is complex and often inaccurate. The information extracted will itself be valuable as an abstract encoding of sign language and will enable its effective use within computing environments.
In addition, other applications will transform this coding into representations that facilitate the use of SignWriting. One application will generate plain-language descriptions of the required hand shapes and movements, making the system easier to understand both for Deaf people unfamiliar with SignWriting and for hearing people with no knowledge of Spanish Sign Language.
Another application will use an animated three-dimensional avatar to represent signs, creating a digital interpretation of SignWriting that will improve comprehension and learning while enabling communication in Spanish Sign Language for those unfamiliar with the system.
The impact of these solutions will improve the integration of Deaf sign-language users within the digital world, society and the workplace by facilitating the computing use of what is often their first language: Spanish Sign Language.
SSD-MOVE Project
The SSD-MOVE project aims to enhance the perceptual and motor skills of people with visual impairments and, consequently, their autonomy in collaborative workspaces, by applying Vibrotactile Sensory Substitution (VSS) research conducted by the Perception and Movement Research Group (GIPYM) at the Autonomous University of Madrid.
VSS uses tactile vibration perception as a substitute for visual perception and is particularly suitable for people with visual impairments because it does not interfere with other essential senses such as hearing. It works by converting the distance to surrounding objects into vibrations delivered through a matrix of small motors in contact with different parts of the body.
Research carried out in recent years has resulted in four different vibrotactile suit models, whose technical and psychological foundations have been tested and published in international scientific journals. These studies have demonstrated the systematic detection of obstacles such as steps, doors, chairs and walls, as well as navigation support in complex static environments.
The project seeks to miniaturise this technology to enable everyday use. A key element will involve identifying the social contexts in which the system is most beneficial and optimising operating parameters accordingly. Users will be able to select the mode best suited to each situation. In parallel, barriers to user adaptation will be identified and training protocols developed to accelerate learning.
2018 Call for proposals
PETRA Project
The Early Detection of Crises in Autism Project (PETRA), developed by a research team from the Department of Signal Theory and Communications at Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M), seeks to address the communication difficulties experienced by some people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). These individuals often interact with others in ways that differ from typical patterns and may experience challenges in both verbal and non-verbal communication, as well as difficulties in understanding the emotions and intentions of others.
To improve their social interactions, the PETRA project has developed a free mobile application called cuidaTEA, capable of analysing users’ behaviour, identifying personalised patterns and detecting changes that may predict episodes associated with anxiety, behavioural or sleep disorders, among others. To achieve this, the cuidaTEA mobile application uses a variety of data sources gathered from the user’s smartphone, such as step counts, app usage and screen time, which are processed using artificial intelligence algorithms.
“In this way, we aim to compensate for deficiencies in these patients’ communication skills through a system that automatically generates real-time alerts sent directly to their carers’ mobile phones, enabling them to understand how the individual is doing,” explains Professor Pablo Martínez Olmos, from the Department of Signal Theory and Communications and scientific lead of the project.
The application is already available for both iOS and Android and is currently undergoing clinical studies in an experimental phase, in collaboration with the Fundación Jiménez Díaz Health Research Institute.
EASIER Project
Simpler digital information through a simplification system that promotes cognitive accessibility for people with intellectual disabilities.
The EASIER project, developed by the Human Language and Accessibility Technologies (HULAT) Group at the Computer Science Department of Carlos III University of Madrid, has created an open-source system designed to improve access to digital information for people with intellectual disabilities.
Information and communication technologies present accessibility barriers that particularly affect people with disabilities. While sensory and physical accessibility needs are widely recognised, cognitive barriers caused by difficult-to-understand texts often remain overlooked.
The project has developed technologies that support the automatic simplification of Spanish-language content to improve readability, as well as accessible user interfaces incorporating simplified text.
The system follows recognised accessibility guidelines, including WCAG recommendations, Spanish legislation, Easy Reading standards (UNE 153101) and Plain Language principles. Through Natural Language Processing and Artificial Intelligence techniques, EASIER offers an intuitive interface where users can enter text and receive simplified, more understandable content. It also includes a browser extension that identifies complex or uncommon words on web pages and suggests simpler alternatives.
DaVOZ Project
From Sign Language to Speech: DaVOZ develops an automatic sign language interpretation system using a volumetric sensor and artificial intelligence.
The DaVOZ project is an application developed by the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The project has created an automatic sign language-to-speech interpretation system designed to break down communication barriers and facilitate the social and professional integration of deaf people. A volumetric sensor and artificial intelligence are used to identify sign language and convert it into synthesised speech. In this way, the system gives a voice to this community and supports greater inclusion.
The solution is highly innovative due to the technology employed and the low cost of its components. It is also worth highlighting that the final device is extremely easy to use and highly portable.
DaVOZ provides an effective and practical solution for people with hearing impairments that can be used in their everyday lives. One of its main advantages is reducing dependence on interpreters, increasing autonomy, improving communication efficiency, and supporting integration into both the workplace and society.
To implement the solution, communication was analysed in a real-world setting, specifically during medical appointments. This made it possible to remove the need for an interpreter and increase the level of confidentiality between patients and healthcare professionals. Following the development of this pilot initiative, a wide range of opportunities has emerged to support the full integration of this community into modern society, particularly by opening up new pathways into employment.
CicerOn Project
Indra Group, Fundación Universia and U-tad, University Centre for Digital Technology and Art, have worked over recent years through a collaboration agreement to create a Research Chair in Accessible Technologies. One outcome of this Research Chair, led by Dr Laura Raya, is the CicerOn: VR Speech Coach project, an application that uses immersive virtual reality techniques to help people with Asperger syndrome develop their social interaction skills and practise public speaking across a range of subjects.
Thanks to its sense of presence and immersion, virtual reality is increasingly used in the rehabilitation of different phobias and disorders, including Asperger syndrome, a neurobiological condition within the autism spectrum whose characteristics may include challenges in social skills, behaviour and communication.
The CicerOn project, developed by researchers, academics and students from U-tad, enables users to practise public speaking in a controlled environment, helping them to reduce the fear, anxiety, phobia or discomfort that these situations may cause. The aim is to support their adaptation to such scenarios and, in turn, improve both educational and professional performance.
The virtual reality application developed within the project allows users to interact with virtual avatars through gamification techniques, applying game dynamics in non-gaming environments. As users progress through the experience while solving the game’s challenges, they are gradually exposed to the situations they find difficult. The complexity of social interaction increases progressively across levels through the introduction of additional virtual avatars, interruptions, background noise and other stimuli, enabling users to adapt incrementally to public speaking situations and audience interaction.
Accompanied by relaxation techniques, mechanisms designed to reduce anxiety and a gamified reward system, the application aims to help users become comfortable with the experience in a gradual and sustained way.
The application should be used in a controlled setting under the supervision of a specialist, as exposure to challenging situations may cause anxiety. It has been designed for use within autism support organisations, where user progress can be monitored safely. To facilitate deployment, the solution is recommended for use with Oculus Quest, one of the most comprehensive and accessible virtual reality headsets available. By following the installation process, users can access the virtual environment from their homes or support centres.
2017 Call for proposals
SICSE Project
The objective of the SICSE project is to develop a low-cost system that enables people with severe motor disabilities to communicate through brain activity.
Numerous neurological diseases can affect the motor system and result in severe disabilities. One example is Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Although cognitive functions remain intact, patients may lose the ability to move or communicate and, in some cases, develop Locked-In Syndrome (LIS).
For individuals with extremely limited mobility and even restricted eye control, Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) systems may provide the only means of communication. These systems establish a non-muscular communication channel by recording and processing brain electrical activity to control a virtual keyboard.
Most such keyboards are controlled through evoked potentials, with the visual P300 response being the most widely used. The SICSE project seeks to create a flexible, easy-to-configure, adaptable, compact and low-cost communication system based on P300 detection, helping users avoid isolation and regain a degree of autonomy.
TalkAACtive Project
Maintaining effective communication with the people around us, whether in personal or professional settings.
These challenges led to the creation of the TalkAACtive application for Android mobile devices, whose objective is to enable adults with communication difficulties to practise and self-evaluate their speaking and writing skills through pictograms, using a proprietary Natural Language Generation (NLG) system that is easily adaptable to the requirements of different workplace environments.
Sequences of pictograms can be used to create sentences; however, their transcription does not always correspond correctly in terms of gender, verb tense or other grammatical structures. An additional step is therefore required to make the output resemble natural language. The application addresses this discrepancy through an NLG engine which, based on the selected pictograms, automatically generates communication that is closer to natural human speech. Following its recent release, users will also be able to work on their pronunciation and/or writing skills by comparing their spoken voice and/or text entered via keyboard, with the aim of improving and strengthening both in the workplace.
The intended outcome is to provide users with an effective tool that enhances their oral and written expression in professional environments. Through continued use, users are expected to gradually move away from pictogram-based communication and become capable of adapting their expression independently in order to integrate into their jobs without assistance. TalkAACtive aims to support the employment of people with communication difficulties and promote their integration into the workplace, helping to prevent social isolation.
The application enables users to become more familiar with understanding instructions and maintaining conversations, generating a positive impact on their interactions with colleagues and supervisors. It has been designed to meet the requirements of both professionals responsible for monitoring progress, such as speech and language therapists, and workplace managers overseeing the roles users perform. In line with the project's “design for all” philosophy, it is also expected that other groups requiring communication practice may benefit from its use.
SmartLazarus Project
The objective of this project was to develop an innovative unified platform for sensing, geolocation and real-time guidance, aimed at tracking and monitoring mobile resources, both human and technical.
The core of the project focused on the development of a unique localisation and sensing engine capable of seamlessly integrating data from a range of heterogeneous sources, such as Bluetooth, GPS and accelerometers, in order to calculate users’ positions within indoor environments where there is no direct line of sight to external positioning systems.
The purpose of the project is to promote the social and professional inclusion of people with disabilities by providing guidance that facilitates their journey to a desired destination, thereby enhancing their autonomy. SmartLazarus is conceived as an intelligent platform capable of integrating multiple technologies to support decision-making, monitor resources and provide automatic guidance for a variety of assets within an environment, whether fixed or mobile.
The platform also incorporates heat map generation functionality, enabling its use across a wide range of scenarios, including demographic studies and behavioural trend analysis of individuals registered within the system.
A key focus of the project has been the ability to gather information about the environment and its resources in a simple and effective way, providing real-time awareness of the status of people, objects and processes within that environment. In addition, interaction with the environment is a fundamental component of the solution, making it possible, for example, to trigger alerts or personalised messages based on users’ locations and the detection of potential obstacles.
2016 Call for proposals
I+D+ i audismart Project
The objective of this project is to create an application that enables personalised configuration, allowing each user to adjust the different sound frequencies according to their individual needs.
AudiSmart’s distinctive feature is the parameterisation of frequency modification. This is particularly important because hearing loss is often associated with intolerance to loud sounds and noisy environments.
Assistive Technology Devices (ATDs) are widely used by people with disabilities in the workplace to accommodate their needs and enable them to achieve the same level of productivity as others.
AudiSmart addresses this challenge by using the smartphone, a device already owned and familiar to the user, as a hearing aid. Its familiarity is expected to improve adoption and enhance the user’s performance in the workplace.
Fewer than 20% of people with hearing loss use hearing aids, highlighting the need for new approaches to hearing technologies and services in order to reduce the gap between those experiencing hearing loss and those who are able and willing to access support.
With AudiSmart, people with hearing impairments can use headphones, including wireless models, connected to their smartphone. Following personalisation by the user, the application applies specially designed algorithms to modify different sound frequencies, amplifying some and reducing others to achieve the optimal listening experience for each individual, thereby creating a more inclusive environment.
The expertise of the SoftLab research group in sound processing, together with the experience gained through the development of systems such as UC3Mtitling, WhatsCine and GoAll, has enabled the creation and evaluation of an algorithm for the pre-processing and processing of acoustic stimuli. AudiSmart should therefore be understood as the implementation of this algorithm in the form of a mobile application.
Smile Work Project
The application is based on gaming technology and recreates realistic 3D environments that mirror real workplace settings and situations, designed to test users’ professional and personal skills. The application is complemented by a dedicated tool for educators.
Smile @work can be used on both PCs and tablets. It is connected to a server where user data and performance results are stored and managed. The platform includes two user profiles: learner and educator.
Users with the learner profile can play an unlimited number of sessions. Throughout these sessions, their performance is recorded, enabling the system to automatically adapt both the content and level of difficulty according to the extent to which objectives were achieved in previous sessions.
A virtual rewards system is incorporated to provide users with simple, engaging feedback on their training progress.
Educators are linked to one or more learners and have access to a debriefing tool that allows them to use the game in demonstration mode whenever specific situations need to be addressed. In this mode, educators can recreate particular sections of the game, pause the action at any point, and demonstrate both correct and incorrect behaviours in order to illustrate the expected response from the player.
App
Graces Project
Many activities involved in software and service development require the creation and use of diagrams. These diagrams are typically presented and accessed through visual interaction methods, making them inaccessible to blind people. In practice, this limitation creates a barrier that restricts access to specialised education and highly skilled employment opportunities.
Graces is developing a software support tool designed to improve accessibility to this type of content for blind users, enabling access to specialised training and enhancing professional development opportunities. The tool is being designed with a focus on interoperability and integration with other systems and solutions.
Its objective is to develop a proof of concept for a software support tool that enables blind people to access graphics and diagrams used in software and service engineering.
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