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Forskningsprogrammer
IT Funk - IT for funksjonshemmede
IT Funk is The Norwegian Research Council's RTD-programme on ICT for people with disability.
Universal design and accessibility for all. The purpose of IT Funk is to contribute to accessibility for all, including persons with disability, to information and communication technology (ICT) and to society through the use of ICT. ICT-based products and services developed for the general market must be accessible and useful for everyone at reasonable prices. IT Funk pays special attention to areas where accessibility issues impact on a person's life chances, such as education, employment and basic services to citizens.
IT Funks nyhetsbrev
Development of a capacitive oral interface for elderly and disabled persons
Project acronym: Cap Mouse
Partners: Brusell Dental AS, Norway, HMC International, Belgium, Lots Design, Sweden, Stinct AB, Sweden and PRO, Sweden.
Project coordinator: Tomas Uno Vilhelm Brusell, Brusell Dental AS, Norway.
Primary objective: Develop a patented hands free capacitive tongue interface based on extra oral capacitive sensors mounted on a head set for elderly and disabled persons with none or limited mobility in their upper extremities. The capacitive tongue interface will be integrated with a smart-phone device with three functional levels
- Steering the wheelchair
- Managing all ICT functions like opening doors and managing remote controls.
- Controlling smart home-functions like opening doors and managing remote controls.
Project summary: The consortium led by Brusell Dental AS, Norway, will develop a patented method to control smart phones, cell phones, computers and all electronic devices with a truly hands-free capacitive tongue interface.
The purpose of the project is to make it possible for elderly and disabled persons with none or limited mobility in the upper extremities, to access all mentioned digital/electronic equipment as comfortably as a person without reduced functional abilities. HMC International is already developing and testing a smart phone device for controlling wheel chairs, ICT and remote controls with different existing interfaces, i.e. head-mouse, finger-mouse and voice recognition. The capacitive tongue interface will in a revolutionary way enhance precision and speed of controlling the Windows mobile software based smart-phone. When the integration of the capacitive tongue interface with the HMC-international smart-phone is operative, end-user testing will be done clinically together with PRO and Permobil AB and their different members and customer groups.
The capacitive sensors are robust and without medical risks. The sensors operate with a weak electrical field, sensitive for change in tissue density around them. The technical challenge is to minimize the amount of needed sensors. This will be done by developing a control unit with simple algorithms making it possible to execute all commands needed to control a computer with the tongue; cursor movements, click, double click and right click using not more than 3 sensors. The sensors will be placed in the vicinity of the mouth, within reach by the tip of the tongue. This will make it possible for the user to tap the whole keyboard - truly hands-free - without noise pollution. Due to one of the partners strong market position, the time to market will be relatively short.
Project period: June 15 2009 - January 31 2012
Further information/website: www.brusell-dental.com/aal
National grant programme in Norway: IT Funk (ICT for disabled and elderly people)
This document was first published 09.07.2009.
