'Intelligent' Tools Help Disabled

Reported February 2010

BARCELONA, Spain (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- 1.8 million people rely on walkers to get around, and 1.7 million people use a wheelchair. While mobility devices improve independence, navigating some spaces is still difficult. Now researchers are developing new intelligent tools that cater to the disabled.

Alma Guerrero knows what it takes to overcome obstacles.

"My spine is kind of curved and I can't do things like everybody else can," Guerrero described to Ivanhoe

Born with spina bifida, she relies on a walker to get around.

"If I'm walking, I feel more free," Guerrero said. "I feel like I'm helping with just more than sitting down all the time."

Now a new intelligent walker could give people like Guerrero even more independence. Created by artificial intelligence researchers in Spain, this walker is customized to each user.

"It has to be tailored to a person because there is a proportion of your height and the position of your arms," Ulises Cortés, a professor at the Technical University of Catalonia in Barcelona, explained.

The walker reacts to a person's movements.

"When I'm walking, I'm exerting forces on the walker and the walker is detecting my forces and then it correct me," Cortes said. "For example, I can let it go and it will stop."

It also responds to the environment … while walking downhill, brakes slow a person down.

Technology like this could help prevent injuries for the 47,000 Americans treated in the ER each year after falling while using walkers.

This wheelchair is also improving mobility. Its wheels allow a person to move 360 degrees and navigate tight spaces.

"These robotic tools will close the cognitive part will live with you during long time, so they will help you to live longer in an autonomous way," Cortes said.

Two new technologies that are giving people the freedom to get around.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.-USA, contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Ulises Cortes
Artificial intelligence expert
http://www.lsi.upc.es/~ia/

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
IEEE
Pender McCarter
IEEE http://www.ieee.org
IEEE-USA http://www.ieeeusa.org
p.mccarter@ieee.org

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1.8 million people rely on walkers to get around, and 1.7 million people use a wheelchair. While mobility devices improve independence, navigating some spaces is still difficult. Now researchers are developing new intelligent tools that cater to the disabled.

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