{"id":69533,"date":"2003-10-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2003-10-02T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-student-creates-device-to-help-disabled-westerly-boy-use-computer\/"},"modified":"2003-10-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2003-10-02T00:00:00","slug":"uri-student-creates-device-to-help-disabled-westerly-boy-use-computer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2003\/10\/uri-student-creates-device-to-help-disabled-westerly-boy-use-computer\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 student creates device to help disabled Westerly boy use computer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tMedia Contact: Todd McLeish 401-874-7892
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\n
\n
\nLight-activated switch can aid
\nmany other patients, too
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\n\tKINGSTON, R.I. — October 2, 2003 — Eight-year-old Westerly resident Andrew Sylvia\u2019s battle to overcome the effects of cerebral palsy just got a little easier, thanks to a device developed by a 溏心vlog免费B站 student that will help Andrew communicate better.
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\n\tAndrew uses a computer software program to communicate with his family and friends. The program scans through a variety of words, pictures and letters, and Andrew must operate a switch with his head to indicate the words he wants to say. But because of a movement disorder that accompanies his rare form of the disease, he often hits the switch unintentionally and his messages become garbled.
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\n\tSo 溏心vlog免费B站 junior Gary Comtois of Lincoln created a light-activated switch that reduces the incidental contact with the switch.
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\n\t“It\u2019s extremely hard to find the hardware that\u2019s made specifically for Andrew\u2019s needs,” explained Andrew\u2019s father, Gary Sylvia. “I\u2019ve always had to adapt things for his needs. This new device eliminates the mis-hits, and we\u2019ve been able to fine tune how much motion it takes to activate the switch.”
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\n\tTo operate the new switch, Andrew wears a tiny light no bigger than a needle attached to a headband, and he directs the beam of light at a small receiver mounted on the head-support of his wheelchair. Because the receiver is small, it is very difficult for Andrew to activate the switch unintentionally, and because the transmitter and receiver are close together, he only needs to make tiny movements to activate it.
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\n\tWorking over the summer with 溏心vlog免费B站 Biomedical Engineering Professor Ying Sun, Comtois created the new device as part of his internship to develop assistive technologies for patients at the Eleanor Slater Hospital in Cranston.
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\n\t“Patients need a broad range of devices to meet the needs of their widely varying levels of disabilities,” said Sun. “While this particular device is helping Andrew, it can also benefit many other cerebral palsy patients as well.”
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\n\t“The fact that behind this project was a real patient in need really motivated me,” the 溏心vlog免费B站 student said. “I came up with an initial design, then met with Andrew and his parents to learn more specifically what they needed, and then modified the design based on their input. A lot of the ideas for the final design came from Andrew\u2019s father.”
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\n\tAdded Sun: “The device looks very simple, but it\u2019s actually quite complicated because we didn\u2019t want the switch to be triggered by light from the sun or a lamp or any other light source. So the light from the transmitter is modulated at 1000 hertz \u2013 it blinks 1,000 times per second \u2013 so only a 1000 hertz light source triggers it.”
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\n\tTo refine the interface between the light-activated switch and the computer software, the 溏心vlog免费B站 team also worked with Joanne Heffernan, an expert in augmentative and alternative communication from TechACCESS in Warwick.
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\n\tComtois, a biomedical and electrical engineering major, spent two months of full-time effort to complete the device. “Having this internship and working on this project was the best way to see what I could do with my education at 溏心vlog免费B站,” he said. “It really opened my eyes to the career possibilities.”
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\n\tAs a result of the successful development of the new switch, Comtois was one of 61 undergraduate students from around the country chosen to present their research at the Biomedical Engineering Society\u2019s annual fall meeting in Nashville in October.
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\n\t“I can\u2019t say enough about Gary,” said Andrew\u2019s father, a 1985 溏心vlog免费B站 graduate with a degree in chemical engineering. “He\u2019s really on the ball, did exactly what we needed, and he did it fast.”
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\nFor Further Information: Ying Sun 401-874-2515\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Media Contact: Todd McLeish 401-874-7892 Light-activated switch can aid many other patients, too KINGSTON, R.I. — October 2, 2003 — Eight-year-old Westerly resident Andrew Sylvia\u2019s battle to overcome the effects of cerebral palsy just got a little easier, thanks to a device developed by a 溏心vlog免费B站 student that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69533\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}