Assistive Technology and Helping Aides

 

Assistive Tech- : Fighting ALS, one gadget at a time New center allows greater independence Steve Saling talks about being lucky and as happy as he has ever been, which might seem odd, given that Saling cannot speak, walk, or move his hands. His “voice’’ is the monotone of a computer, activated by an infrared beam he moves with almost imperceptible twitches of his head. . . .More Article (Article on DisabilityVoice,  Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010 ) Article Posted By Timothy A Carey By The Boston Globe  - Kay Lazar- Aug. 14, 2010 View The Entire Article ::: :::

 

Assistive Tech- DV Speaks: I have seen something like this on star trek next generation when the Klingon was injured. Walk Aide Allows Drop Foot Syndrome Patients to Walk Again The Walk Aide is a revolutionary product that allows people with drop foot syndrome the ability to walk completely unassisted. This small set of straps placed around the the lower legs sends electrical pulses that activates the nerves and causes the foot to react naturally. The Walk Aide is placed just below the knee and measures where your foot is in space to reply accordingly. . . . .More Article (Article on DisabilityVoice,  Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010 ) Article Posted By Timothy A Carey By AMS Vans  - Amelia - July. 27, 2010 View The Entire Article :::  :::

 

Assistive Tech- 'Sniff code' device controls wheelchair Scientists have developed a device that allows people with severe disabilities to control a wheelchair by sniffing. Researchers from Israel have also used it to help patients who are completely paralysed to communicate. . . .More Article (Article on DisabilityVoice,  Sunday, Aug. 15, 2010 ) Article Posted By Timothy A Carey By BBC  - July. 30, 2010 View The Entire Article :::  :::

 

Assistive Tech- Robotic Arm Assists Wheelchair Users There is a new robotic arm that has been developed for wheelchair users with upper limb disabilities called RAPUDA. Via remote control, the arm is capable of picking up and grasping items on a table or floor near the wheelchair on which it is attached. The device weighs around 13 pounds and extends over 3 feet to pick up objects up to 1 lb in weight. . . .More Article (Article on DisabilityVoice, Saturday, Aug. 14, 2010 ) Article Posted By Timothy A Carey By AMS Vans- Amelia  - Aug. 02, 2010 View The Entire Article :::

 

Bionic Legs - New robotic device, ReWalk, lets patients walk again. The impossible dream of being able to walk is coming true for some wheelchair-bound paraplegics who thought they would never again take another step. ReWalk, a cutting-edge robotic device that lets a partially paralyzed person stand, walk and even climb stairs is being tested at a Philadelphia rehab hospital. . . .More Article (Article on DisabilityVoice, Sunday, Mar. 14, 2010 ) Article Posted By Marilyn Zamarripa By Rosemary Black   - Feb 4, 2009 View The Entire Article ::: :::

 

Assistive Gaming- DisabilityVoice Speaks: Cory was a friend of Timothy Carey's of DisabilityVoice.  Rest in Peace Dear Corey Corey "Dis" Krull was a professional writer, disabled gamer, and most of all, good friend. Saturday, December 12, 2009, we lost Corey to the afterlife. I've been pretty fortunate in my life, having only had three people close to me ever pass on. Death is not something I'm used to dealing with yet... if anyone really does get used to it. But I never expected that this would happen. The last time I spoke to him, he told me about his hospital stay and that it was all over, and he was on his road to recovery. I told him to take it easy, that his health was more important than AbleGamers. . . .More Article (Article on DisabilityVoice, Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2009 ) Article Posted By Timothy A Carey By Steve Spohn- Able Gamers   - Dec 17, 2009 View The Entire Article ::: :::

 

 

Assistive Technology - On a Roll: Autonomous Navigation Lasers and Robotics Push "Smart" Wheelchair Technology to the Cutting Edge [Slide Show] One of the latest attempts to build a commercially viable smart wheelchair is leveraging lessons learned from the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge Engineers can build autonomous vehicles capable of cruising city streets without the aid of a human driver, as demonstrated two years ago in the DARPA Urban Challenge. A team of researchers is now looking to translate that success to the medical field by building so-called "smart wheelchairs" with artificial intelligence that uses lasers, sensors and mapping software to operate and navigate powered chairs for riders who cannot do so on their own. . .More Article (Article on DisabilityVoice, Saturday, Dec. 19, 2009 ) Article Posted By Timothy A Carey By Larry Greenemeier  - Dec 14, 2009 View The Entire Article :::  :::

 

Assistive Technology - Yes, There is an App for That! iPhone Application for Power Wheelchairs A new application by wheelchair controls company Dynamic Controls has just been released, which checks for diagnostic problems and gives the user access to speed information, compass data, and other real-time information about their power wheelchair. The application is made for Apple’s iPhone or iPod Touch, and it connects to the wheelchair via Bluetooth. It also comes with . . .More Article (Article on DisabilityVoice, Sunday, Dec. 13, 2009 ) Article Posted By Timothy A Carey By Stacy, Ams Vans- Dec 08, 2009 View The Entire Article ::: :::

 

Assistive Technology - Gaming Visually impaired gamer sues Sony Online Refusal to implement or facilitate changes to make online games more accessible violates Americans with Disabilities Act, suit claims. It's not uncommon for blind gamers to feel invisible in addition to visually impaired. For instance, when gamer Brandon Cole wrote THQ a letter suggesting changes to make its Smackdown series of WWE wrestling games more accessible to the blind, he received a form letter back thanking him for his appreciation of the game's graphics. It doesn't help the visually impaired that some of EverQuest II's characters are actually invisible. But now, . . . .More Article (Article on DisabilityVoice, Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009 ) Article Posted By Timothy A Carey By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpot- Nov 6, 2009 View The Entire Article ::: Go to Assistive Tech Gaming Section ::: Go to Legal Section

 

Assistive Technology 2009 Technology Innovators Conference As statedon the National Centers for Technology Innovation website. "The National Center for Technology Innovation (NCTI) advances learning opportunities for individuals with disabilities by fostering technology innovation. Specifically, we help researchers, product developers, manufacturers and publishers to create and commercialize products of value to students with special needs." They are holding a conference on November 16, and today November 17. There will be many innovators there, but 3 of these innovators are from Wright State University in Ohio. 2 of the student's work is supported by IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education Research and Traineeship) Fellowships from the National Science Foundation. A poster they have explaining their work in the assistive technology called Brainfingers is provided below. DisabilityVoice will be doing a follow-up article on this. More Links: AT Thesis Explanation NCTI 2009 Expo IGERT Brainfingers (Article on DisabilityVoice, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009 ) Article Posted By Timothy A Carey By Timothy A. Carey  :::

 

Assistive Technology Robotic Systems Help People with Disabilities by Rory A. Cooper, Department of Veterans Affairs & University of Pittsburgh People might be surprised to learn that about 50 million people in the world use, or could benefit from the use of, a wheelchair. Wheelchairs are one of the most commonly used assistive devices for mobility, and they provide people with mobility within their homes and communities. While wheelchairs were once a symbol of inability and stigmatizing, they have evolved to be highly mobile forms of self-expression that are often fitted to each individual user. One may wonder what science and engineering can do to improve the wheelchair, and be surprised by the answer that . . . .More Article (Article on DisabilityVoice, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009 ) Article Posted By Timothy A Carey By Rory A. Cooper View The Entire Article :::

 

Assistive Technology Toyota thinks up mind-reading wheelchair June 29, 2009--by Sharon Vaknin Last week, we told you about Mindflex, a Mattel toy that lets players move objects with their brains. This week comes word that the same technology is making its way into a more functional application--a wheelchair that users can maneuver with thought alone. Toyota has developed the wheelchair in collaboration with researchers in Japan. The system analyzes brain wave data using . . . .More Article (Article on DisabilityVoice, Saturday, July 4, 2009 ) Article Posted By Timothy A Carey By Sharon Vaknin View The Entire Article :::

 

Assistive Technology In New Procedure, Artificial Arm Listens to Brain February 10, 2009 Amanda Kitts lost her left arm in a car accident three years ago, but these days she plays football with her 12-year-old son, and changes diapers and . . . .More Article (Article on DisabilityVoice, Thursday, April 16, 2009) Article Posted By Timothy A Carey By Pam Belluck View The Entire Article :::

 

Helping Aides Appleton man Jack Nigl helps devise new tool that aids wheelchair users Metal device makes it easier for service dogs to open doors . GRAND CHUTE — Jennifer Ulrich pointed to a fabric strap, and with a command of "tug," a black Labrador named Wilson latched onto a handle and pulled a door open. It was a simple motion that was never so simple before. Ulrich, 20, of Seymour, uses a wheelchair and opening lever-style doors has always been a hassle but even with the help of her service dog. A tool devised at Fox Valley Technical College will soon provide a solution. "It was very hard," Ulrich said. "And all of a sudden there's something that can open any door." Clients of Northeast Wisconsin Service Dogs will know the benefit of the FVTC's 2-year-old Fab Lab program. The lab developed the metal device from an idea brought in by Appleton's Jack Nigl. The lab, one of 30 like it in the world, offered demonstrations of the tool with the help of Ulrich and Wilson on Wednesday. Nigl, an instructor with the service dog organization, went to the lab figuring ....More Article (Article on DisabilityVoice, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2009) Article Posted By Timothy A Carey By Jim Collar - Post-Crescent staff writer - January 22, 2009 View The Entire Article :::

 

Socialization and Helping Aids Creature Comforts By REBECCA SKLOOT Published: December 31, 2008. ON HALLOWEEN NIGHT IN A SUBURB of Albany , a group of children dressed as vampires and witches ran past a middle-aged woman in plain clothes. She gripped a leather harness — like the kind used for Seeing Eye dogs — which was attached to a small, fuzzy black-and-white horse barely tall enough to reach the woman’s hip. “Cool costume,” one of the kids said, nodding toward her. But she wasn’t dressed up. The woman, Ann Edie, was fueling order that simply blind and out for an evening walk with Panda, her guide miniature horse. ....More Article (Article on DisabilityVoice, Wednesday, Jan. 07, 2009) Article Posted By Timothy A Carey By REBECCA SKLOOT View The Entire Article ::: Go to Socialization Section :::

 

Helping  Wheelchair users can now enjoy the beach Steve Wettenhall MP, Member for Barron River saw first hand how four brand new “beach wheelchairs” shipped from France will....More Article (Article on DisabilityVoice, Saturday, December 6 , 2008) Article Posted By Timothy A Carey View The Entire Article :::

 

Harnessing The Power Of The Brain Scott Pelley Reports How Brain Computer Interface May Help The Paralyzed In The Future (CBS) Once in a while, we run across a science story that is hard to believe until you see it. That's how we felt about this story when we first saw human beings operating computers, writing e-mails, and driving wheelchairs with nothing but their...More Article (Article on DisabilityVoiceSpace, Sunday, November 09, 2008) Article By Scott Pelley and Posted By Timothy A Carey View The Entire Article ::: Wadsworth Center: BCI  ::: BrainGate  :::Brain Communication Foundation     Assistive Technology (Computer Access and Communication)

 

 Medical or Assistive Tech

Having a Disability In a Technological Age Living with a disability is difficult and it can be frustrating not being able to do some things on your own. Having difficulty doing everyday tasks the average person takes for granted makes for even more frustration. It doesn’t matter if you have to use a wheelchair or you require a ventilator for breathing, always relying on caregivers and medical equipment to survive is difficult. However, in the past 15 years There have been soaring technological advancements in ...MORE  (Article on DisabilityVoiceSpace, October, 27, 2008 ) Article Written by Jason from MN, Edited and Posted by Timothy A Carey  Full Article : : Go to Medical Section

Green Assistive Tech With the Japanese population aging rapidly, the fuel-cell wheelchair and cart applications have a bright future. In fact, Japan already has the world's highest proportion of elderly people. More than 20% are over the age of 65 and this figure is expected to rise to about 40% by...More Article (Article on DisabilityVoiceSpace, Monday, October 27, 2008) Article By Greenz.jp and Posted By Timothy A Carey View The Entire Article :::  Greenz.jp :

 

Assistive Tech & Health  Dean Kamen's "Luke Arm" Prosthesis Readies for Clinical Trials Dean Kamen's “Luke arm”—a prosthesis named for the remarkably lifelike prosthetic worn by Luke Skywalker in Star Wars—came to... More Article (Article on DisabilityVoiceSpace, Saturday, September 6, 2008) Article By Sarah Adee and posted By Timothy A Carey View The Entire Article  :::  See "Luke Arm" In Action  :::  Diagram of "Luke Arm"