A(I)BILITIES: Generative Artificial Intelligence for Interactive Technologies Adapted to Users with Disabilities


   

Project summary

Project no.: PN-IV-P7-7.1-PTE-2024-0434; Contract no.: 9PTE/2025
Principal Investigators: Radu-Daniel Vatavu (University of Suceava, Romania) and Adrian Onu (ASSIST Software)
Funded by UEFISCDI, Romania
Funding scheme: PNCDI IV - P5.7 - Technological transfer
Running period: January 2025 - December 2026 (24 months)

Abstract

In this project, we propose the A(I)BILITIES technology and cloud platform, which leverages the following key principles: digital accessibility (access to digital information and digital devices must be equitable), ability-centered design (users' specific abilities should be treated as design requirements for digital devices to enable personalized accessibility), and generative AI in the form of AI as a Service (equitable access to personalized accessibility services, adapted to the specific abilities of individual users, should be available for the entire community through cloud-based services).

Objectives

Our specific objectives are:
  1. Development of the A(I)BILITIES technology and its validation at TRL6 level for the automatic generation of accessibility solutions by adapting digital device interfaces to individual user abilities.
  2. Integration and demonstration of the A(I)BILITIES technology as a cloud-based platform, validated at TRL6 level, to facilitate equitable access to personalized solutions for users with disabilities.
  3. Ensuring the sustainability of the project results and its continuity through effective dissemination within the scientific community, the industrial sector, organizations for people with disabilities, and the general public.

Team (University of Suceava)

  •  Radu-Daniel Vatavu, Principal Investigator
  •   Ovidiu-Andrei Schipor, Researcher
  •   Ovidiu-Ciprian Ungurean, Researcher
  •  Laura-Bianca Bilius, Postdoctoral Researcher
  •  Mihail Terenti, Postdoctoral Researcher
  •  Ilie-Alexandru Neamtu, PhD student

Publications and scientific dissemination

  1. Laura-Bianca Bilius. (2026). Accessible Input on Small Touchscreens: Evaluating Deep Learning Architectures for Stroke and Motion Gestures. Proceedings of ICUSI '26, the 2026 International Conference on User-System Interaction. MatrixRom, Bucharest, 140-144
    PDF | DOI
  1. Mihail Terenti. (2026). Demonstration Use Cases in Designing Accessible Gesture Input with Gesture-A11Y. Proceedings of ICUSI '26, the 2026 International Conference on User-System Interaction. MatrixRom, Bucharest, 125-126
    PDF | DOI |  Best Demo Honorable Mention Award  
  1. Ovidiu-Andrei Schipor, Irina Petrariu, Andrei Traciu, Maria Meheden, Remus Baltariu, Razvan Prundel, Liviu Mitrofan, Radu-Daniel Vatavu. (2026). Demonstration and TRL 5 Validation of AI-Generated Adaptive User Interfaces. Proceedings of ICUSI '26, the 2026 International Conference on User-System Interaction. MatrixRom, Bucharest, 189-190
    PDF | DOI
  1. Alexandru Gheorghiu, Laura-Bianca Bilius. (2026). System Design and Usability Evaluation of an LLM-based Voice Assistant for Controlling Digital Environments. Proceedings of ICUSI '26, the 2026 International Conference on User-System Interaction. MatrixRom, Bucharest, 133-139
    PDF | DOI
  1. Radu-Daniel Vatavu, Ovidiu-Ciprian Ungurean. (2026). Imagine, Interact: Eliciting Accessible Interactions from Users with Motor Impairments via Imagined Input Devices. Proceedings of CHI '26, the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Barcelona, Spain). ACM, New York, NY, USA, Article no. 1197, 18 pages
    PDF | DOI | ACCEPTANCE RATE: 25.3% (1702/6730) | ARC CORE A* | WOS: 001782517200167
  1. Radu-Daniel Vatavu, Irina Petrariu, Tudor Horomnea, Ovidiu-Ciprian Ungurean. (2026). Modeling Touch Input for Users with Motor Impairments: Empirical Insights into Training Size Requirements. Proceedings of CHI EA '26, the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Barcelona, Spain). ACM, New York, NY, USA, Article no. 473, 6 pages
    PDF | DOI | ACCEPTANCE RATE: 38.2% (789/2068) | ARC CORE A* | WOS: 001792737300262
  1. Irina Petrariu, Laura-Bianca Bilius, Liviu Mitrofan, Sebastian Crintea, Robert Croitor, Tudor Horomnea. (2026). A Comparative Study of Regression Techniques for Touch-based Input and Adaptive User Interfaces. Proceedings of DAS '26, the 18th International Conference on Development Application Systems (Suceava, Romania), 278-283
    PDF | DOI
  1. Mihail Terenti, Ovidiu-Ciprian Ungurean, Radu-Daniel Vatavu. (2025). Design Explorations in Distal Haptics for Touchscreen Input and Users with Upper-Body Motor Impairments. Proceedings of C&C '25, the ACM Conference on Creativity and Cognition (Virtual, UK). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 409-413
    PDF | DOI | ACCEPTANCE RATE: 58.1% (25/43) | WOS: 001543736500041
  1. Alexandra-Elena Guriță, Radu-Daniel Vatavu. (2025). Good Accessibility, Handcuffed Creativity: AI-Generated UIs Between Accessibility Guidelines and Practitioners' Expectations. Proceedings of DIS '25, the ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (Madeira, Portugal). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1197-1209
    PDF | DOI | ACCEPTANCE RATE: 24.2% (176/726) | ARC CORE A | WOS: 001555741000072
  1. Mihail Terenti, Laura-Bianca Bilius, Ovidiu-Ciprian Ungurean, Radu-Daniel Vatavu. (2025). Empowering Accessible Gesture Input Design with Gesture-A11Y. Proceedings of W4A '25, the 22nd International Web for All Conference (Sydney, Australia). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 74-79
    PDF | DOI |  Best Communication Paper Candidate   | WOS: 001659909800014
  1. Mihail Terenti, Laura-Bianca Bilius, Ovidiu-Ciprian Ungurean, Radu-Daniel Vatavu. (2025). Gesture-A11Y: A Large-Scale Hub for Accessible Gesture Input. Proceedings of W4A '25, the 22nd International Web for All Conference (Sydney, Australia). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 48-50
    PDF | DOI |  Accessibility Challenge Judges' Award   | WOS: 001659909800010
  1. Alexandra-Elena Gurita, Radu-Daniel Vatavu. (2025). When LLM-Generated Code Perpetuates User Interface Accessibility Barriers, How Can We Break the Cycle? Proceedings of W4A '25, the 22nd International Web for All Conference (Sydney, Australia). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 124-134
    PDF | DOI | WOS: 001659909800019 |
  1. Mihail Terenti, Radu-Daniel Vatavu. (2025). Distal-Haptic Touchscreens: Understanding the User Experience of Vibrotactile Feedback Decoupled from the Touch Point. Proceedings of CHI '25, the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Yokohama, Japan). ACM, New York, NY, USA, Article no. 500, 19 pages
    PDF | DOI | ACCEPTANCE RATE: 24.9% (1249/5020) | ARC CORE A* | WOS: 001501406100055
  1. Radu-Daniel Vatavu, Bogdan-Florin Gheran. (2025). Intermanual Deictics: Uncovering Users' Gesture Preferences for Opposite-Arm Referential Input, from Fingers to Shoulder. Proceedings of CHI '25, the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Yokohama, Japan). ACM, New York, NY, USA, Article no. 283, 16 pages
    PDF | DOI | ACCEPTANCE RATE: 24.9% (1249/5020) | ARC CORE A* | WOS: 001496957100391
  1. Alexandra-Elena Gurita, Radu-Daniel Vatavu. (2025). Breaking Bad (Design): Challenging AI User Interface Accessibility Guardrails. Proceedings of CHI EA '25, the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Yokohama, Japan). ACM, New York, NY, USA, Article no. 624, 7 pages
    PDF | DOI | ACCEPTANCE RATE: 32.0% (32/100) | ARC CORE A* | WOS: 001496972000135
  1. Alexandra-Elena Gurita, Radu-Daniel Vatavu. (2025). Insights and Implications of Evaluating Accessibility Compliance in AI-Generated Web Interfaces. Companion Proceedings of WWW '25, the ACM on Web Conference (Sydney, Australia). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 996-1000
    PDF | DOI | ARC CORE A* | WOS: 001527543600158