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Devices for the physically disabled (wheelchair bound) patient. — Parallax Forums

Devices for the physically disabled (wheelchair bound) patient.

carlinecarline Posts: 13
edited 2014-01-14 19:14 in General Discussion
Hello All.......,

I recently had a friend, through an accident, become wheelchair bound with little use of her hands, arms or feet.
She can speak, has good- to- fair vision and hearing but great difficulty with doing the chores of daily life that we don't give a
second thought. I.E. brushing teeth, feeding oneself, brushing hair, turning a page of a book.

I am looking for information on any Basic Stamp and/or Propeller software / hardware to aid the handicapped. Maybe voice control/command etc.

I realize this may be very general in subject matter but would appreciate any input to give me a starting point
to help this individual and others in her status.

Thanks in advance for your input.

Chuck A.

Comments

  • prof_brainoprof_braino Posts: 4,313
    edited 2014-01-10 08:40
    OK, this is big deal. There are a lot of little steps, but if you do those, you can get a LOT of help for the knowledge of the forum members.

    "Aid the handicapped" is too general to give you anything other than a general response; as in "Sure, what are you after?" There's not much tailored to your friend right out of the package, but you can build anything you can imagine in sufficient detail. Are you up for this? Its quite fun. How much effort can you allocate for this?

    You mission, should you decide to accept it, is to identify the most basic tasks that need to be performed, and impement the minimum necessary and sufficient to perfom those tasks.

    First - make a list of aid-tasks to perform. Make these VERY specific, the likelyhood of getting something increases if you can ask for exactly what you want.
    Eample:
    - Brush teeth - hold tooth brush at proper position, and provide up and down motion
    - open door - gripper to locate door knob, grab knob, turn N degrees, pull, and drive through open door
    -- or --
    - automate all doors as pocket doors

    Second - what inputs can the subject provide to a system? can she move her hand a little, or only blink? Sip and puff? Joystick? anything else? This is critical to get started.

    What kind of rig does she have now? I.E what kind of wheel chair or scooter? This will tell us how much power is available, and load capacity etc.

    Now: What skills and resources are availible? If you can't do certain skills (electrical, mechanical, software) draft talent from the local high school and community college.

    Welcome to the world of being a hacker!
  • carlinecarline Posts: 13
    edited 2014-01-12 17:31
    Thanks for being my only responder... I agree that I have to do a lot of analysis of her abilities now and projected. She is a senior citizen but was quite active prior to
    the accident.

    I could best sum up her present condition as adjusting to the trauma and therapy to extend her abilities for evaluation. When that evaluation is made for range of motion,
    ability to grasp and/manipulate devices (buttons, switches, joystick, etc.) then I can plan on what to do best for her.

    I am a retired computer tech (mainframe, midrange, desktop, etc. ) I've been tinkering with micros for sometime but nothing very elaborate.

    I appreciate your input and welcome any and all advice and suggestions.

    Thanks again for you input.... I'll update this as soon as her "more stable condition" is made.

    Chuck
  • garyggaryg Posts: 420
    edited 2014-01-12 18:23
    Hi
    I would start out on a project like this by keeping a journal concerning your friend on almost a daily basis.
    Writing down observations soon after you see your friend will generate a pattern of facts.
    The facts will have some certain things in common.
    I truly believe that the reason for lack of response in this forum has to do with your original post being very open ended.

    My projects start with an idea that pops into my head and won't leave.

    Thinking about how to achieve the mechanical portion of one of these projects is usually when I find out
    if I have or know someone that has the technology to impliment the mechanical portion.
    If you have pointed questions on a particular topic, anyone that frequents this forum will more than likely participate in
    a discussion and provide help with problems, concerns.


    I hope this helps you in some manner.
    GaryG
  • xanaduxanadu Posts: 3,347
    edited 2014-01-12 18:29
    There are lots of people who read this who have been giving the issue some thought for quite some time. Medical devices can get expensive. We love our patients but more than anything we want to give them the best quality of care. If you're looking for a finished product there is a new method out where the person gets their tongue pierced with a small magnet. Sensors can detect the tongue position and control things like electric chairs. Extremely limited mobility patients are saying it works better than anything else. On the flip side there are a lot of products on the market that have years of R&D behind them that aren't as popular and don't work well.

    In the meantime if you want to start out on a project, Parallax does sell a voice recognition kit - http://parallax.com/product/30019 I'm am not sure this would benefit your friend, but it would enable you to find out. Start out getting a defined set of parameters. Make some notes on what you think can be done. Keep working on the list until you narrow it down to a specific non-mission critical task. Turn that process into a mechanical process and a microcontroller can do it. Speech recognition depends a lot on consistency and even the placement on the mic is a large factor. If you're in IT you must know Dragon, even that is a pain to train.

    There are lots of sensors, you may be able to get ideas from looking at what you can do - http://parallax.com/catalog/sensors/detectionproximity
  • GadgetmanGadgetman Posts: 2,436
    edited 2014-01-13 00:27
    Why not start With something not 'mission critical'?

    She's more or less wheelchair bound, which means she will have trouble reaching high shelves, or possibly even to take out clothes from a closet.

    Is there anything you can do to rebuild cabinets and closets to make it easy to reach everything?

    This is stuff that can be appreciated by anyone with limited mobility.
  • dmagnusdmagnus Posts: 271
    edited 2014-01-13 07:44
    "Brush teeth - hold tooth brush at proper position, and provide up and down motion"

    I would add here that a commonly available power toothbrush would make this task much easier. Just turn on/off and move around the 4 quadrants of the mouth. Much easier than trying to move the toothbrush back and forth while also moving around the mouth.
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2014-01-13 09:44
    carline wrote: »
    ...

    I could best sum up her present condition as adjusting to the trauma and therapy to extend her abilities for evaluation. ....

    Chuck,

    don't rush into developing any major technology just yet. If she's still at the evaluation stage, you might be surprised at how much ability she will eventually recover. A couple years ago I started swinging into action to help an elderly person who was apparently paralyzed from the waist down - I was ready to have ramps built, help move the person to a new place, etc. To my amazement, the person recovered the ability to walk after a few months of therapy and now is able to drive again, live independently, etc. So give it some time before you identify your friend's needs. If anything, provide lots of encouragement, etc. during the rehab phase.
  • carlinecarline Posts: 13
    edited 2014-01-13 15:09
    To all responders,....Thank You!. All of the information is appreciated and relevant at this stage. I think some of this is my "knee jerk reaction" to the problem.

    I'll just have to wait for a more definitive analysis of her abilities. After that, what she as the patient needs and wants will probably be paramount to the
    direction this takes me.

    Once again, thanks for all of the input.

    Chuck
  • trookstrooks Posts: 228
    edited 2014-01-14 08:35
    Chuck,

    I admire what you are wanting to do for your friend. I too had a friend that was greatly limited physically by MS.

    I found that the things that helped him the most were very low tech. Things like simply extending the little locking levers for the wheels of his wheelchair to make it easier for him lock and unlock them as well as affixing short levers to door knobs helped a great deal in increasing his ease of mobility.

    As has already been mentioned you should hold off on any elaborate 'fixes' for something that could prove to be a temporary problem.

    I too am a retired electronic, electro-mechanical and computer 'field service engineer'. So far I am in disgustingly good shape considering all the things I did to my body and brain in my younger days.

    I am in the process of learning the 'new' technologies and software as they relate to robotics with an eye toward the day when I will be in need of help to continue living alone.

    Here's hoping your friend recovers to the point that your continued friendship will be the most helpful.


    Tim R.
  • prof_brainoprof_braino Posts: 4,313
    edited 2014-01-14 19:14
    carline wrote: »
    I think some of this is my "knee jerk reaction" to the problem.

    I'll just have to wait for a more definitive analysis of her abilities. After that, what she as the patient needs and wants will probably be paramount to the
    direction this takes me.

    Excellent idea. Also, if you really want to enlist community help, consider-

    If you make a web page or blog or wiki or something, you can build the project online. As you learn more about the project, you add the information to the web page/wiki, then we can see it and you won't loose it.
    If you divide it up and/or organize it, we can give comments and feed back on each part. Much easier to swallow and digest in small pieces.

    So while you wait for a more complete analysis , set up the web page to say what yo want to do, and then you have a place wait to recieve the analysis, and transfer the knowledge to your pals here.
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