Device also allows 'locked-in' patients to type, surf the Internet
Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comParalyzed may soon steer wheelchair with just a sniff
Seeded on Mon Jul 26, 2010 4:49 PM EDT (msnbc.com)
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As some patients might find the brain implants somewhat intrusive, I think this is a great accomplishment, and hope it is available to the public soon.
What happens if you sneeze?
My thoughts exactly. Is that cussing someone out?
I can think of a few things I'd rather control with a sniff rather than steering a wheelchair...how about getting a girl to drop her panties with just a sniff?
you are a jerk
Moron
All I can say is "WOW". This is great news to all the people who can use this to improve the quality of their lives. "GREAT WORK" !!
I have ALS and use of my arms thus far and can still talk...the ability to converse with loved ones will be awesome once I am "locked in" to let them know how one feels etc.
Bless you, Larry - you will be in my prayers.
Hi, my brother also has ALS and my sister-in-law is a quadraplegic, so if this is really available in the foreseeable future it would be a wonderful asset for both of them.
This is great news for quads, but as for paraplegics, I'd rather they fast track that walking exoskeleton recently debuted.
@jbird....Where did you see the exoskeleton? I'm a para and would like to learn more about that.
As for the story, that's so cool. I used to work with stroke patients and others who had trouble making their needs known, this would be so liberating for them.
Ugh! I think it might have been either CNN or MSNBC in a technology section. Cant remember for sure, but I liked what I saw. It was just yesterday. I'm a 42 year old L4 Spina Bifida patient.
I'm a 32 year old man, with Osteogenesis Imperfecta type III or commonly known as brittle bones disease (I have the more severe variant). I can't walk or do most stuff by myself, which didn't allow me to finish my university degree or get a job (most companies want me to work on-site), and living in a third world country (Ecuador) with my parent's doesn't help to my self steem either. Reading stuff like this and all the new technologies available gives me hope that one day maybe I'll have some degree of independence.
Anyways, here is the info you requested: http://dvice.com/archives/2010/07/even-new-zealan.php. And here is the company's website that created the exoskeleton: http://www.rexbionics.com/.
Good luck.
Yes, its the Rex model. Thanks Juan! You saved my butt here!
hmm...sounds promising.
My skeptic radar is up. This story portrays an example or two that sound suspiciously like the enablers that "helped" profoundly disabled persons "write" by poking a keyboard. I'd like to see more about it before I'll believe a woman who can't blink was suddenly writing profound prose.
There were incidents that might have been an exaggeration, but the media used it to go on a witch hunt. The fact is, touch boards can work in many of those cases. I put in 10+ yrs of human services work, and saw the proof.
Hopefully this idea and design would benefit quads and to that effect. I had a friend in school that was a quad and my step uncle that got into a car wreck in 89 or so. he was only 22 at the time, I was hard that he WAS locked in due to coma, but when he woke major damage to his brain, that he is almost a vegetable.
We would absolutely wonderful, if he could communicate for the first time with his parents, that have been there ther entire time since the accident.
i have been been paralized twice in my life both times have been temporary to some degree first time i broke c1c2c3 lucky for me after a couple of years of physial therapy i got 90% of my mobility back the second time i had a very bad vasculitus out break or stroke blood vessals swell so blood cant flow through nervious system left with some mobility and lots of pain anyway in sandiego there is a man who has built a yhaut that even just blowing through a straw a person can sail that boat by them selves it is remarkable i dont have the information available right now but if your interested let me know and i will try to find the information for you there is also a group in new mexico that train horses and build and teach people how to ski it is called challenge new mexico anyway i think you are going to see be break throughs in this type of technoligy sorry for spelling i have to type with a stick tied to my hands and it takes to much effort to go back and check
No problem Stan, you did fine. Interesting stuff.
This is such a wonderful invention!! Communication with ALS patients can be very hard on both people in the conversation. I am very happy about this. It will really ease tension and frustration in a conversation when that is the last thing you want during such a tough time. this is so great.
I am fasinated. I am bedbound due to advanced Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. I just want to be able to get in a wheelchair.
I am the mother of a ventilator dependent quad. I've been trying to find a way for him to surf the internet where can I get more information.
This has been around for many, many years it's called a sip and puff. http://www.pridemobility.com/quantum/electronics/additional/sipnpuffoptions.asp Pride mobility and many other manufactures have these and yes there are interfaces that you can get so you can communicate with your computer and do all sorts of things even controlling your environment. Ever hear of Steven Hawking? He comunicates and writes books with this tech. he just uses eye blinks instead of breath. the technology is already there. I'm wondering do they have socialized medicine in Israeli and that's why their so far behind and JUST discovered this? If you need help in your area with this go to this website and find your local A.T.P. (Adaptive Technology Professional) http://web.resna.org/member_directory/individual/index.dot they will help you with this.
This sounds a little more sensitive than a sip & puff if it can be used by someone who is "locked in".
medicine rocks!
Someone with hay fever will be all over the city in no time.
Randy - Thanks for including the RESNA info for people to find, sip & puff technology has been around for awhile, however this is a new take on it, using receptors in the roof of the mouth, instead of the skull as they have been doing in RI and Spain. Israel has been in the forefront of several areas involving paralysis research and do attend and keep up with international and US spinal cord injury and technology advances.
For information on Assistive Technology and the 60 centers in the US, go to www.abledata.com
For other uses of technology and rehabilitation, see Neurotechnology
http://www.spinalcord.org/news.php?dep=17&page=94&list=2065
to someone disabled this is a very big step. your ignorance in saying about getting a girls underwear off was inappropriate. this is like a whoel new life for a person with a disability. learn and understand what you do not know anything about. linda
Do what I do with these trolls. Click the ! and report it as no value. If enough people do this, it will be collapsed.
This is wonderful for disabled people who need it.
I could have sworn Christopher Reeve had something like this way back when. I thought he said in an interview that he was able to move his chair by blowing in a straw. Does anyone else remember that or did I dream it?
Elle Marie, You're right- Christopher Reeves did have a sip & puff power chair. Thry're pretty tough to learn to drive, especially when you figure he had to time his puffs with his ventilator breaths.
Thanks, California Nurse! I didn't think I made it up. I'm sure the technology is better now and will, hopefully become more affordable as well!