Handitech: these technologies that make life easier for the disabled

[ad_1]

Widely present in the entertainment and work sectors, new technologies have also led to many advances in the field of medicine. Today artificial intelligence and technical innovations are not only able to cure, but also to facilitate the lives of people with disabilities.

(Embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqeQByqf_f8 (/ embed)

Available since 2015, the Seeing IA app helps people with visual impairments to understand the world around them. Developed by Microsoft, the service, currently only available on iOS is able to vocally describe a situation, a text or any other situation supported by artificial intelligence via the smartphone camera. Present at the VivaTech 2019 show, the application also makes it possible to automatically recognize the facial expression of an interlocutor, and even to identify some familiar faces previously recorded. So far available in North America, and in some Asian countries, Seeing IA is expected to be available in French in the coming months.

Released in 2018, the Microsoft Xbox Adaptive controller was intended to mark a real turning point in video game accessibility. Designed in collaboration with players with reduced mobility, the accessory incorporates two impressive buttons remappable according to the needs of the player, and more than 20 external ports to connect different devices. Available in France at € 89.99, the controller supports all games in the catalog of the Mountain View company.

(Embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL-8Xfx6S5o (/ embed)

Presented at the last I / O conference, the Google Live Caption and Google Live Relay tools. Specifically, Live Caption will soon subtitle any video or audio file automatically. A tool already used by Google on YouTube, but which will now be deployed throughout the system. Relative to Google Relay, the other tool introduced by the Mountain View firm earlier this month, it will allow a hearing-impaired person to call directly with the person in question, converting text messages to voice transcripts. Particularly promising, these two new features should be available in the fall, at the time of the release of Android Q.

(Embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IBjg1bVcck (/ embed)

Presented by the company Hoobox Robotics at CES 2019, the wheelie wheelie-enabled wheelchair allows a person with reduced mobility to move independently, using the camera at the front of the seat to move. Thanks to the recognition of almost a dozen facial expressions, Embedded artificial intelligence is thus able to associate each gesture with a precise displacement. If this type of innovation to improve the mobility of people with disabilities is already used in some hospitals, other even more ambitious projects could soon be democratized, like that imagined since 2009 by Toyota.

(Embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpoNeSI6L1E (/ embed)

Still in the Review phase, this wheelchair worthy of Xavier's teacher in X-Men movies can be completely controlled by thoughte, thanks to non-invasive helmets filled with sensors. In the longer term, researchers hope to successfully implement brain implants directly implanted in the patient's neural network.

(Embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbX9FLJ6WKw (/ embed)

Thanks to the brain, and the stimuli sent by the brain to the muscles responsible for speech, researchers at the University of San Francisco hope soon to speak to people with speech impairments. The idea is to translate neuronal impulses into a clear and intelligible voice. As a reminder, existing solutions are still very limited, need to spell words or typing, and have a speech rate of only ten words per minute. The hope is that this innovation will achieve a fluid speech rate of several tens of words per minute.

(Embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEx5lmbCKtY (/ embed)

Less expensive to manufacture (a few hundred dollars only), faster to make (50 hours) and entirely custom-made, the 3D printed prostheses undoubtedly constitute one of the most promising uses of technology in the medical fieldl. Fruit of the collaboration between Microsoft and the association Limbitless SolutionsPerhaps the most famous example in recent years is that of Alex, a seven-year-old American who was offered a replica of Iron-Man's arm as a prosthesis. It should be noted that while external limb prostheses have become increasingly popular in recent years, the production of biocompatible materials also makes it possible to implant 3D printed parts directly inside the body.

[ad_2]

AB SMART HEALTH health home & BUILDING REVIEW