Wheelchair Controlled Through User’s Tongue

What you just read guys is actually correct. Engineers have come up with a system that enables disabled people to control the movement of their wheelchair with their tongue.  Ph.D., assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta says “It lets them use their tongue motion and translate it to different commands”.  Though this news is not the latest-in, I just thought that I should share this with all you guys.

The basic reason behind designing a chair that could be controlled with a tongue is that the tongue is directly connected to the brain, while all the other body parts are connected to the brain through spinal chord. So any person with whatever spinal disability can move his tongue freely and normally.



The only thing that the user has to do is to stick a small rice grain sized magnet piece to his tongue, called a magnetic tracer. Whenever he moves his tongue, its movement is sensed by an array of sensors. The sensors can be mounted on orthodontic braces inside the mouth or on the headsets outside the mouth. These sensors transmit signals wirelessly to a portable computer (that can be carried by the user). These signals are then processed by the computer to compute the relative movement of the traces with respect to the sensors. This data then controls the movements of a wheelchair.

There are thousands of disabled people in India. Things like walking and running which are no special things for us are a dream for them. The wheelchair can really prove to be a boon for those suffering from spinal injuries and this would give them a much needed thing, independence.

I found this idea pretty cool and an incredible implementation of engineering and technology. But I just have one question, how would the user talk then?

What are your views?