Researchers develop tongue-driven wheelchair system powered by iPhone, iPod Touch
Baku, February 29 (AZERTAC). Experts at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) several years ago created an innovative system of controlling wheelchairs that is surely going to benefit those who suffer from paraplegia and other forms of paralysis and cannot move on their own. They've created a driving system for the prosthetics that relies solely on the tongue for control. Users place a device in their mouth, and control it with their tongues. Hooked to a computer, the system transforms the movements of the tongues in commands for the wheelchair's drive train, which then propels the person forward, backwards or sideways.
The trials focused mostly on individuals suffering from tetraplegia, as a result of high-spinal cord injuries, mostly between the C3-C5 cervical vertebrae. Each of the participants had a small, rice grain-sized magnet attached to their tongues, with tissue glue. A headphone-shaped device was then placed over their heads, which allowed for the movement of the magnet to be recorded in real time. The data was then wirelessly transmitted to a portable computer, located on the wheelchair itself.
The array of sensors in the headphones allowed the computer to understand if the participant was moving their tongue forward, backwards or sideways, and transformed those impulses in commands for the drive train. Additionally, the system was also successfully used for controlling a mouse on a computer screen. Further details of how the Tongue Drive system operates are available in the June issue of the journal IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.
The Tongue Drive System comes in the form of a dental retainer instrument activated by a tongue piercing. A tiny magnet is attached to the piercing and the dental retainer is armed with sensors that track the movement of the magnet. These signals are wirelessly transmitted to an iPod Touch or iPhone where software installed on the device's interprets the user’s commands. This is then used to control the movements of a cursor on the devices screen which replaces the joystick function in similar powered wheelchairs.
Earlier versions of the prototype involved a complicated headset, but the headset would shift during use causing a need to re-calibrated the device frequently.
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