Tongue Drive System to Operate Computers

Tongue Drive System to Operate Computers

Scientists developed a new revolutionary system to help individuals with disabilities to control wheelchairs,computersand other devices simply by using their tongue.

Engineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology say that a newtechnologycalledTongue Drive systemwill be helpful to individuals with serious disabilities, such as those with severe spinal cord injuries and will allow them to lead more active and independent lives.

Individuals using a tongue-based system should only be able to move their tongue, which is especially important if a person has paralyzed limbs. A tiny magnet, only a size of a grain of rice, is attached to an individual's tongue using implantation, piercing or adhesive. This technology allows a disabled person touse tongue when moving a computer mouse or a powered wheelchair.

Scientists chose the tongue to control the system because unlike the feet and the hands, which are connected by brain through spinal cord, the tongue and the brain has a direct connection through cranial nerve. In case when a person has a severe spinal cord injure or other damage, the tongue will remain mobile to activate the system."Tongue movements are also fast, accurate and do not require much thinking, concentration or effort."said Maysam Ghovanloo, an assistant professor in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

The motions of the magnet attached to the tongue are spotted by a number of magnetic field sensors installed on a headset worn outside or an orthodontic brace inside the mouth.The signals coming from the sensors are wirelessly sent to a portable computerthat placed on a wheelchair or attached to an individual's clothing.

The Tongue system is developed to recognize a wide array of tongue movements and to apply specific movements to certain commands, taking into account user's oral anatomy, abilities and lifestyle."The ability to train our system with as many commands as an individual can comfortably remember is a significant advantage over the common sip-n-puff device that acts as a simple switch controlled by sucking or blowing through a straw,"said Ghovanloo.

The Tongue Drive system istouch-free, wireless and non-invasive technologythat needs no surgery for its operation.

During the trials of the system, six able-bodied participants were trained to use tongue commands to control the computer mouse. The individuals repeated several motions left, right, up and down, single- and double-click to perform computer mouse tasks.

The results of the trials showed100 percent of commands were accuratewith the response time less than one second, which equals to an information transfer rate of approximately 150 bits per minute.

Scientists also plan to test the ability of the system to operate by people with severe disabilities. The next step of the research is todevelop software to connect the Tongue Drive system to great number of devicessuch as text generators, speech synthesizers and readers. Also the researchers plan to upgrade the system by introducing the standby mode to allow the individual to eat, sleep or talk, while prolonging the battery life.

For Immediate ReleaseJune 30, 2008

Magnetic Control: Tongue Drive System Allows Individuals with Disabilities to Operate Powered Wheelchairs and Computers

A new assistive technology developed by engineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology could help individuals with severe disabilities lead more independent lives.

Georgia Tech assistant professor Maysam Ghovanloo (left) points to a small magnet attached to graduate student Xueliang Huo’s tongue that allows him to operate a computer mouse and powered wheelchair.
Georgia Tech Photo: Gary Meek / Download 300 dpi version

The novel system allows individuals with disabilities to operate a computer, control a powered wheelchair and interact with their environments simply by moving their tongues.

“This device could revolutionize the field of assistive technologies by helping individuals with severe disabilities, such as those with high-level spinal cord injuries, return to rich, active, independent and productive lives,” saidMaysam Ghovanloo, an assistant professor in the Georgia TechSchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Ghovanloo developed the system with graduate student Xueliang Huo.

The tongue-operated assistive technology, called the Tongue Drive system, was described on June 29 at the 2008 Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA) Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. An article about this system is also scheduled to appear in an upcoming issue of theJournal of Rehabilitation Research and Development. This research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.

Watch a Quick-Time video explaining the Tongue Drive system
Watch a Quick-Time video of the Tongue Drive used to operate a wheelchair

To operate the Tongue Drive system, potential users only need to be able to move their tongues. Attaching a small magnet, the size of a grain of rice, to an individual’s tongue by implantation, piercing or tissue adhesive allows tongue motion to direct the movement of a cursor across a computer screen or a powered wheelchair around a room.

Georgia Tech Electrical and Computer Engineering graduate student Xueliang Huo moves his tongue to direct the Tongue Drive system to move the powered wheelchair in a different direction
Georgia Tech Photo: Gary Meek / Download 300 dpi version

“We chose the tongue to operate the system because unlike hands and feet, which are controlled by the brain through the spinal cord, the tongue is directly connected to the brain by a cranial nerve that generally escapes damage in severe spinal cord injuries or neuromuscular diseases,” said Ghovanloo, who started working on this project about three years ago at North Carolina State University. “Tongue movements are also fast, accurate and do not require much thinking, concentration or effort.”

Movement of the magnetic tracer attached to the tongue is detected by an array of magnetic field sensors mounted on a headset outside the mouth or on an orthodontic brace inside the mouth. The sensor output signals are wirelessly transmitted to a portable computer, which can be carried on the user’s clothing or wheelchair.

The sensor output signals are processed to determine the relative motion of the magnet with respect to the array of sensors in real-time. This information is then used to control the movements of a cursor on the computer screen or to substitute for the joystick function in a powered wheelchair.

The system can potentially capture a large number of tongue movements, each of which can represent a different user command. A unique set of specific tongue movements can be tailored for each individual based on the user’s abilities, oral anatomy, personal preferences and lifestyle.

“An individual could potentially train our system to recognize touching each tooth as a different command ,” explained Ghovanloo. “The ability to train our system with as many commands as an individual can comfortably remember is a significant advantage over the common sip-n-puff device that acts as a simple switch controlled by sucking or blowing through a straw.”

The Tongue Drive system is also non-invasive and does not require brain surgery like some of the brain-computer interface technologies.

Ghovanloo’s group recently completed trials in which six able-bodied individuals tested the Tongue Drive system. Each participant defined six tongue commands that would substitute for computer mouse tasks – left, right, up and down pointer movements and single- and double-click. For each trial, the individual began by training the system. During the five-minute training session, the individual repeated each of the six designated tongue movements 10 times.

During the testing session, the user moved his or her tongue to one of the predefined command positions and the mouse pointer started moving in the selected direction. To move the cursor faster, users could hold their tongue in the position of the issued command to gradually accelerate the pointer until it reached a maximum velocity.

Results of the computer access test by novice users with the current Tongue Drive prototype showed a response time of less than one second with almost 100 percent accuracy for the six individual commands. This is equivalent to an information transfer rate of approximately 150 bits per minute, which is much faster than the bandwidth of most brain-computer interfaces, according to Ghovanloo.

The researchers have also tested the ability of twelve able-bodied individuals to operate an electric-powered wheelchair with the Tongue Drive system. The next step is to test and assess the usability and acceptability of the system by people with severe disabilities, said Ghovanloo. He is teaming with the Shepherd Center, an Atlanta-based catastrophic care hospital, and the Georgia Tech Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access, to conduct those trials.

The research team has also begun to develop software to connect the Tongue Drive system to a wide variety of readily available communication tools such as text generators, speech synthesizers and readers. In addition, the researchers plan to add control commands, such as switching the system into standby mode to permit the user to eat, sleep or engage in a conversation while extending battery life.

“We hope this technology will reduce the need of individuals with severe disabilities to receive continuous assistance from family members or caregivers, thus significantly reducing healthcare and assistance costs,” noted Ghovanloo. “This system may also make it easier for them to work and communicate with others, such as friends and family.”

To live or die - computer will decide

Are you ready to entrust your destiny to a computer? Researches say that a new computer program can make life-or-death decisions for disabled people better than their closest relatives.

A new research conducted by National Institute ofHealth(NIH) introduced a software program that can calculate all the pros and contras for further treatment of the seriously ill patients based on the mathematical formula. The decisions made by computer calculations are claimed to be even more accurate than those of the patient's close people.

Usually, when a doctor deals with an incapacitated patient and the chances for treatment are not evident, the decision is handed in to surrogate. But NIH scientists revealed, the surrogate decision may not be precise. A thorough analysis of the 20,000 choices of surrogates and patients showed that their decisions coincided only in two third of the times.

NIH professor David Wendler suggested a population-based treatment indicator to make such decision more precise. The program is based on database of other patients with the same disease, with similar characteristics like age, illness peculiarities, nationality and others along with the information on the treatment option.

The prior population-based treatment indicator was created by Wendler group after analyzing the statistic results of the survey conducted on cancer patients. They disclosed that patients are likely to choose a treatment saving their life even if it would be 1 percent chance and their mental state won't suffer much. Otherwise, life-saving treatment is unlikely to be the choice for those who have 99 percent chance they would live, but with their mental abilities not recovered.

The result of preliminary comparison of the computer treatment indicator and decisions made by surrogates was stunning. The accuracy of both human and computer decisions coincided in over 78 percent of cases.

Although these findings showed that computer choice could be not less effective than human decision, thisscientific idearemains quite questionable due to the ethical matters. The substitute of the personal decision shouldn't be ignored even if calculations were proved to be accurate. Wendler and his colleagues say that even closest relatives are not able to make life-or-death decisions when it comes to serious cases, while their software takes into account the whole range of factors.

Latest Invention: Software that Allows Writing on Screen Using Power of Mind

A team of researchers managed to develop a software program that allows writing letters and number on the screen by simply thinking about them. Thenew inventiondeveloped by scientists at theMayo Clinic in Jacksonvillecan be a great step towards a new type of communication that can prove to be useful for millions of people with paralysis and variousneurological conditions.

Researchers discovered that people were able to make letters appear on the display by focusing on a specific letter when it was shown with a six-by-six grid of symbols. Their new invention represents the first step towards the creation of amind-machine interface.

During trials, two patients had electrodes placed inside their skulls right on to the surface of the brain. The electrodes were placed inside the skull with the help of an incision calledcraniotomy. The team used these electrodes to follow the electrical signals generated by the nerve cells when a patient focused on certain figures on the matrix, reports The Daily Telegraph.

The results of the signals were then translated by a computer that ran the new software. As soon as patients focused on a specific letter, it was shown on the display. According to the researchers, in future, devices, which would be powered by the brain, would need surgery so they could be placed inside the skull. Dr. Shih considers that soon such devices could become so small that they could be easily implanted so computers could interpret signals from the patients' brains.

Posted byMaxriter