Device let’s paralyzed communicate and steer wheelchair by sniffing

The MV-1 wheelchair accessible car will make travelling simpler for wheelchair users, while voice activated and tongue-controlled wheelchairs will make mobility on the wheelchair easy. Now, to add to the list of creative ways to simplify things for the wheelchair users, a new device that lets the disabled communicate and control their wheelchairs by sniffing is in the making.

wheelchair steered by sniffing

This new sniffing technology developed by Prof. Noam Sobel and his team of engineers from the Weizmann Institute's Neurobiology Department, would enable quadriplegics to navigate wheelchairs or communicate with their kith and kin by inhaling and exhaling through the nose. The system has been designed to identify change in pressure in the nostrils and then convert the same into electrical signals, which are read by a sensor-based device in the nostril to transmit it out to navigate a wheelchair or for communication.

The developers have tested the device in normal people and quadriplegics and have found that the users of the device are able to navigate a wheelchair or play a computer game with almost the same accuracy and speed of a mouse or joystick. The developers have based the sniffing technology on a complex 'language' with multiple signals, owing to a wide amount of variations in sniffing. They believe the system is relatively inexpensive and comparatively easier to learn than the other Brain Machine Interfaces.

Using the sniffing technology there were patients with locked-in syndrome, who after a very long time in life were able to ‘write poignant messages to their loved ones, sharing with them, their thoughts and feelings.’ Weizmann Institute’s technology transfer arm, Yeda Research and Development Company, Ltd is exploring possibilities to develop the sniffing technology.

Image courtesy Wikipedia, used only for representation Via: ScienceDaily