Changes and improvements in assistive technology are fast-paced and constant. Emma Chesworth caught up with assistive technology consultant Oliver Lewis to talk about some of the latest equipment and software that are helping improve the lives of people with a brain injury, limiting condition or disability.
“There have been a lot of changes in hardware,” says Oliver.
One recent advancement is the robotic arm for wheelchairs devised by Rahana Life. The arm bolts onto someone’s wheelchair and through head movements or a joystick they can operate the chair’s controls.
“This means that someone who does not have control of their limbs can use the robotic arm to feed the dog for example or take something gently from a child or look at a piece of paper. Little things that can make a big difference to someone’s life,” says Oliver.
The Jaco robotic arm was developed by Rahana Life in Montreal, Canada and has users across the world.
While still not used widely in this country, it is something to watch for the future.
Rahana Life has also created the Ability Drive control system which allows someone to control their wheelchair using eye gaze technology.
This also allows a person to control a computer using their eyes using blinking to click or hit a button.
Oliver says: “Eye gaze always had a difficulty as it relates to infrared – infrared comes up from the bottom of the screen, hits the eyes and the device then finds out where on the screen you are looking.
“On a sunny day where the sun is emitting a lot of infrared, that makes the camera struggle to see the eyes.
“Now, cameras have got a lot better and anyone using eye gaze as a means of communication can go out, to the park for example, and still have the eye gaze system working properly.”
Eye gaze technology is at the early stages of being used to drive a wheelchair.
Rather than being limited to a physical limitation such as a joystick, head movement or buttons, someone can operate their chair through eye movements.
Software is the faster growing area and AI is playing a huge part in the changes.
Oliver says: “To sum up the year I would say AI – the past few years we would have been talking about virtual reality but that has not quite come into fruition yet and it isn’t talked about as much.
“AI is very good for people with cognitive difficulties. Anyone with difficulties with executive function or memory, both very common for people with an acquired brain injury, can see huge benefits through AI – you can ask AI a question and it will give a meaningful answer rather than just giving a link to a website.
“It means a person can converse with it and responses can be personalised to suit the user.”
AI’s ability with languages makes it a potential game changer for people with communication difficulties.
Being a language bot, AI can be used to enhance the outcomes for people using any Alternative Augmentative Communication (AAC) device.
Rather than having to type a message and then hit speak which can make conversation slow and stilted, AI running through an AAC device can formulate a series of responses to select. It ‘knows’ the user and what and how they are likely to say something.
AI is being used to create personalised voices for anyone who may have had a brain injury and lost the ability to speak.
Oliver says: “If any voice recordings exist, depending on the quality and quantity, those recordings can be captured and used – it will still be a computerised version of someone’s voice but it will be recognisable as their voice.”
Regional dialects are also being created to move away from the limited and standard voices previously available.
The popularity of gaming, not just with younger people, means there have been significant advancements made in accessible gaming.
Microsoft released an adaptive controller which allows people to play lots of different games with it, allowing for the use of multiple joysticks or buttons, whereas before someone would have had to use a standard controller.
Sony has this year released its disability gaming controller and these dedicated disabled gaming devices are priced at a similar cost to the standard controller.
Oliver says: “For many people who have had a brain injury, gaming was a huge part of their life and losing the ability to game is losing the opportunity for social interaction with friends.
“These positive advancements reduce the risk of losing that social interaction.”
User input when developing hardware or software is vital if the products are to be fit for purpose.
Google has now opened a new centre in London for the development of assistive technology.
The Accessibility Discovery Centre is a research and development hub to create technologies to remove more of the barriers facing people with disabilities.
