A light-activated switch developed by a University of Rhode Island junior and biomedical engineering major has made life a little easier for an 8-year-old Westerly boy with cerebral palsy.
Andrew Sylvia uses a computer program that scans through a variety of words, pictures and letters which allows him to communicate and play games. He must operate a switch with his head to indicate which word or letter he wants to use. Because of a movement disorder associated with his cerebral palsy, however, Andrew often hits the switch unintentionally, garbling the words and sentences.
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Now, with a light-activated switch created by URI student Gary Comtois of Lincoln, Andrew is less likely to activate the computer program inadvertently. To use the new device, Andrew wears a headband that has a light the size of a needlepoint, which he directs at a small receiver attached to the head support on his wheelchair. Because of the device’s small size, it’s harder for Andrew to activate the communication switch by accident and because the transmitter and receiver are close together, Andrew only needs to make slight deliberate movements to activate it.
“He’s been using (the computer) for learning how to read, spell and construct sentences, and he was getting a lot of false hits,” said Andrew’s father Gary Sylvia. “He’s learning how to read and write and it’s important for him to have good software so he doesn’t get frustrated.”
Comtois said, “I was thinking about it – this invention is actually going to do something for someone. Then it’s not work anymore – I’m going to help someone.”
Comtois spent two months of full-time work to finish the device, and worked over the summer with URI biomedical engineering professor Ying Sun. Comtois created the switch as part of his internship to develop assistive technologies for patients at the Eleanor Slater Hospital.
Joanne Heffernan, an expert in augmentative and alternative communication from TechACCESS in Warwick, approached Sun with Andrew’s problem. She also helped to refine the connection between the switch and the computer software.
“The light has to hit the target (on the new switch) and you can control that very well with intentional movements,” Sun said. “It takes some effort to hit the target.”
The beam is always on, Sun said, but if Andrew has an episode of uncontrolled movement, the beam will be flashing on and around the target, but won’t activate the program.
“The purpose of this program is to give the students a learning experience and also to produce a device” to aid disabled people, Sun said. “Eventually we want to market and sell this device.”
Sun said URI has had the internship program for four years, so there are other similar devices to work from, and Comtois actually used a part from another device. Now that the device has been proven to work, Sun said URI plans to eventually market and produce it.
Enabling Devices, a division of Toys for Special Children Inc., based in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., has formed a partnership with the program, Sun said. The university has one device already on the market.
“It was definitely a very rewarding experience for both myself and Gary,” Sun said. As a result of his successful invention, Comtois was one of 61 undergrads from around the country chosen to present his research at the Biomedical Engineering Society’s annual meeting in Nashville from Oct. 1 to 4.
“I enjoy doing this even though it’s working in a lab,” Comtois said. Although he’s not sure if work or grad school is in his near future, Comtois said he’d like to work for a company that makes assistive devices for people like Andrew.
Sylvia, also a URI chemical engineering graduate, is grateful that Comtois engineered a device that will improve Andrew’s ability to communicate and function, something that is essential to his development and schooling.
“Anything that can increase his efficiency and accuracy will add to his ability to interact with the computer,” Sylvia said. “The switch becomes more important depending on how far (Andrew) goes. As he proceeds (in school) he needs to be quicker and more accurate. The switch has great potential to go forward, (and be designed) for other children.”
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