Access Through the Wireless World
By Smith, Mark E.; New Mobility, Vol. 21, No. 197, pp. 44-45Publication Date: February 2010
Article describes three wireless systems that assist individuals with severe disabilities in interacting with their environment: (1) the BBNAV, short for “blue badge navigation,” a British global positioning system (GPS) that specifically directs the user to disability-related points of interest such as parking lots with disabled-parking spaces and accessible restaurants, beaches, and public restrooms; (2) a “proportional tongue-based control system,” developed and trialed at the Georgia Institute of Technology for quadriplegics to operate devices ranging from power wheelchairs to computers via a magnet on the user’s tongue and sensors on a dental retainer; as the tongue moves in relation to the sensors, the system operates as a proportional control; and (3) Q-Logic power wheelchair electronics, which interfaces a power wheelchair with home appliances, allowing joystick control of devices ranging from a computer mouse to a television, and featuring an optional Q-Logic Enhanced Display with a color screen which serves as an environmental control unit by using Bluetooth and infrared technology. Internet links to additional information about the products described are appended.
Published by: No Limits Communications Inc. (Website:http://www.newmobility.com)
