Slashdot Mirror
A Humanitarian Engineering Problem
zrosener asks: "A have a friend who has ALS (Stephen Hawking's ailment), a particularly nasty disease in which her motor neurons deteriorate over time, slowly waylaying her. She is in pretty bad shape now, and her movement is restricted to moving her eyes, and very limited (1 inch in each direction) hand movement. She has very light bell that she uses to wake up her husband when she needs assistance, but as her strength wanes it is becoming less and less effective. She is afraid at night now that if something were to go wrong she would not be able to rouse her husband. My challenge to you is to design a noise-making-husband-alerting device cheaply and quickly assembled from strip mall parts (Radioshack, Walmart, etc.) that she could use with her extremely restricted movement. Buttons are out of the questions, as are anything that requires gripping. Analog answers are encouraged too! Please email all suggestions or post them."
why not a touch pad that plays britney spears hit me baby one more time when any pressure is applied? WHO COULD SLEEP THROUGH THAT????
Oi! Oi! The first cool Askslashdot question in a long time!
An idea, that is sort of like a button but not quite is to use those touch-sensetive lightswitch panels (the on/off kind, not dimmer kind) so you only need a very light touch to trigger the switch.
Hilary Rosen's speech was about her love of money and her desire to roll around naked in a pile of money.
Without buttons... hmm... that makes it difficult. You need some sort of actuator. And I suppose telepathy is out of the question? :)
Have something that can read the presense and absence of a retina. Now have it be able to read morse code. Then it's a matter of blinking a bunch of times. :)
-
ping -f 255.255.255.255 # if only
A good input device might be conductive foam, its used to package chips and prevent ESD damage. Its resistance varies as you squeeze it so it could probably be used to detect almost any weak movements with some kind of simple electronic gadgetry on it.
I guess a better answer will be provided by some else though if there is a commercially available device - this sounds like one situation where traditional slashdot do-it-your-selfery should be abandoned if there is anything already out there that works..
[x] auto-moderate all posts by this user as insightful
so the bell is less effective, but that would mean that there needs to be some, even if barely useful, hand motion... to work with just the eyes reminds me of mouse gestures in web browsers... three eye rolls for emergency...
One of those really loud alarms, meant for women to carry at night, to draw attention to them, in case of a mugger or something like that.
Take it apart, and solder on a larger button. Or just build your own, from a Piezo electric speaker, a battery and a switch.
I am sorry to hear of her situation, hopefully someone can post a more indepth solution than mine that will be what you are looking for.
hey, I'll send you the e-mail of the bastard who lives 3 doors down the street from me with the subwoofers than keep waking me up at 3am...(that is, if I don't lynch him first)
I have seen this before, just set it up so there is an air tube that the person can blow some of their breath through to activate a button that could sound something.
I know some people do morse code this way because they can't move their hands or legs.
How hard would it to come up with a fairly inexpensive device that tracts retenal movement and then can convert it to letters or commands? I would have thought that there was something out there like this now.
when they ban enctryption only criminals wi$21*J *#JF$%!@#$':
You must live in Daly City. We'll cordinate on hunting that bastard down. =)
1) how's her breath control? If it's good, you could set up something that she could blow on-- say, a sustained puff of greater than 1 second could trigger the bell. You'd need a room with relatively still air, but it's otherwise a straigt-forward problem
2) perhaps a more intrusive than she'd accept, but something based on jaw clench is possible
3) voice recognition... not a radio shack problem, i'm afraid tho
two separate contacts on the skin, near each other. When in trouble, sweat a bit, closes the circuit = light, sound, whatever.
Dude, she's married. Her husband would be expected to be telepathic even if she could talk.
This has buttons, but...a keyboard attached to a Linux box with some good speakers attached. Make a program that delivers a loud alarm when the buttons are mashed.
It could even be GPLed.
Simple. Get a small lightbulb and arrange it to shine on a photodetector. Hook it up so that a buzzer will sound if the detector output drops.
Then all she has to do is move her hand to cover the detector and the buzzer will sound.
For slightly more technical than Rat Shack, use an IR LED with corresponding detector.
Two metal plates that are only several inches apart and near her hand. Her hand alwas rests on one plate with her fingers just shy of the second plate.
When she needs help she moves that tiny distance and her hand touches both plates and completes the circut which is then wired to any bell and whistle you might choose.
Simple but effective and easy.
Puto
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
How good are you and her husband going to feel when this crappy $5 "solution" ends up failing and costing her her life? And perhaps makes her last minutes or even hours on this planet a living hell, suffocating, choking, etc. I vote no.
Infra-red camera that detects heat from exhaled breath. Hold your breath for a certain amount of time (or die) and the monitoring system triggers an alarm that drops a load of bells onto the husband from a trapdoor above his bed.
?
1. inductive switch -- the "touch" pads at home depot, or like in lamps where you touch the base (sorry, don't know the circuit, but i'm sure a few google searches would turn something up).
2. air operated switch -- blow into a small rubber tube; i've seen this used by teams who launch devices into stormclouds to force lightening strikes. it provides complete decoupling from the circutry (that's why they like it) and only requires a breath to flip the switch.
https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
A solution which requires no gripping power at all, but some gross motor control, is to use a light circuit, such as one of those driveway doorbells http://www.driveway2020.com/ (have never used 'em) to cause an alert to fire. Wireless ability means no need to even be in same room.
Of course, you'd need a second one to signal when the first one's batteries go out.
And and third to do that for the second.
And a fourth to do that for the third.
She has an infinite number of fingers right? That will solve this. If not, I guess you should just build one.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
I recall as a kid buying cheap little biofeedback devices from radio shack. Straps to a finger if I remember correctly and works based on some galvinic skin response increasing conductivity (or I may be entirely confused.) Interesting thing is, one can train oneself to elicit the feedback response, and innately they function well in registering stress. Perhaps this could be used as a trigger for some other alarm to wake the husband? Just a thought, hope you are able to figure something out to help your friend.
"the best safety of the frontier...will be secured by total annihilation of the few remaining indians" L Frank Baum 1890
Possibly even easier, depending on teh reliability of her muscle control, is a pair of finger cymbals. Each is connected to one side of the wire - tap them together, on it goes.
Can she move her neck? Her mouth? Her tongue?
My first thought would be a whistle attached to a standard orthodontics face-brace. She could talk or breath as normal, or pucker her lips and blow through a whistle located at the corner of her mouth.
Or how about two wires close together that she can touch with the tip of her tongue to close the circuit and sound a buzzer? Or similar but with a light-sensitive sensor.
- JoeShmoe
.
-- I wonder which will go down in history as the bigger failure: the War on Drugs or the War on Filesharing
Maybe something along the lines of a light beam directed at a photoelectric cell. Break the light beam with the hand, an alarm is set off. I'm not an engineer (is there an acronym for that?) so I can't recommend anything specific off hand, but I think it should be possible to come up with something like that fairly easily and cheaply. Maybe someone else can suggest something more specific.
When the wife becomes nervous her heart rate probably goes up. Get a heart rate monitor that has an upper target rate alarm. Set it to a reasonable value through trial and error.
The middle mind speaks!
Why not have a small IR beam sensor (you can buy the parts at most ratshacks) and have that set off a buzzer/siren. Position the beam sensor pair within range of motion of her hand so all she needs to to is interrupt the beam with her fingertip.
Ratshack even used to sell a larger-scale version of this as a door entry bell. You placed the unit and a reflector on either side of a doorway and anytime someone walks through the beam a chime sounds. Most ratshacks had these set up and operating to alert the salespeople to incoming customers during off-hours.
You might be able to find a pre-made version of this device on a small scale for detecting cabinet openings, or as a small portable "hotel room alarm" but most of these kinds of devices will not use this mode of sensing. (most cabinet alarms sense the light pouring in from the room into the cabinet, and most hotel alarms hang on the doorknob and sense being rocked around with a mercury switch.)
-Matt
My challenge to you is to design a noise-making-husband-alerting device cheaply and quickly assembled from strip mall parts
a two week old child!!
They're almost as acurate as clockwork!
"Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far
You might want to consider a automotive micro switch (the kind used for nitrous oxide systems). They have virtually to resistance to being depressed.
Hook one of these up to a relay switch and then to the power supply of a noise maker and you may have a solution
Good Luck.
Technology is most abused by the very people it was created to help
Could she take a very deep breath? A flexible strap around her chest could activate an electronic alarm.
Perhaps a little more information about what her capabilites are would be helpful.
If your bitterest enemies are people who hack the heads off civilians, then I would say you're doing something right.
can she move her mouth i.e. chew?
make something that fits into a mouth peice that would require a sequence of bite-downs. not just one cuz she probably will bite on it during sleep.
make it like the football mouthpeices with the btreathing hole in the center - so as not to suffocate.
then it could be used to communicate more than just at night....
make it have an outer guard that prevents it from going into her mouth all the way - and maybe a little elastic strap so as to prevent it from falling out during rest.
she could learn some sort of oral morris code that would allow for her to communicate much more effectively - and would probably be a much cheaper solution to develope than Hawkings rig....
Here's a schematic for a 'touch switch', the type used on the 'touch lamps':
http://www.paia.com/~paia/touchsw.htm
Use it to connect a 9-volt battery and a piezo buzzer.
steve
Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
When my father was recovering from heart surgery, the doctors gave him a small plastic device to exercise his lungs. The device had three individual chambers, each with a small plastic ball, and a single nozzle extended from a flexible plastic tube.
The point of this device was to try and "lift" all three plastic balls to the top of each tube.
For this application, maybe you could create a small device in to (or on to) which your friend could simply blow, to activate a circuit. The circuit could then activate any number of items.
Kind of rudimentary, but the cost and amount of exertion required to activate the device are low.
If she can't push a button, maybe you could attach a string to her finger and have her pull on it, and that could actuate a lever that crosses a light beam to set off an alarm. You could probably reduce the effort required to sound this sort of alarm quite a bit. Other than that, you're looking at some smart goggles that watch her pupils, which is not a cheap solution.
...there's always this.
Using a laser/reflector alarm just set up the beam and the relfector in such a way that all she would have to do is lift her figer or move to disrupt the light beam then setting off the alarm.
You can pick up bend meters from Jameco that are intended for PowerGlove sort of VR usages. From there, you'd want to use it to drive a Darlington transistor array or something similar (i.e. device that triggers on once a certain amount of power passes through the collector) to run a Radio Shack buzzer. You'd want a trim-pot to control when the buzzer triggers.
Note -- I'm a digital boy and I'm designing this in my head, so I could be very wrong.
So, for the trouble of one mail order part, you have a buzzer that trigers when a strip is straightened. Very very little force required to move it.
Either that, or just attach a lever arm attached to a pot set just close enough that a small movement will trigger the transistor on the buzzer so that she can push down on a paddle with minimal force.
Gentoo Sucks
Foreward I am not an engineer, just a CS student, so I'll be light on implimentation.
If a large touchpad could be made to sense change in contact (using change in current across a plate), then a binary pattern could be established to trigger an appropriate alarm. This could work much like a clapper, with a complex enough pattern that it wouldn't be accidently triggered, but not so complex as to be useless when in shock. The downside would be a requirement for positioning of the device, though if the device could be strapped directly to where it could always be used (like a brace on the arm), that could be fixed.
As a slight variation, another method would be to have multiple touchpads, each on a different controllable part of the body, where if they were all repeatedly pressed around the same time, it would trigger the alarm. So, in that case, both arms would be equipped with a brace or whatever to allow panic use of the alarm with less chance of accidental triggering.
Any more robust triggering device ideas?
Ryan Fenton
...what about reacting to her eyebrow and cheek movements? Can she 'wince'? It might be possible that she could 'wince' an SOS...?
I really wish I understood this condition better.
"Derp de derp."
If the motion is that severaly limited, something simple would be a circuit that is completed by her putting a finger on top of two contacts -- maybe a millimeter away from where her finger is supposed to rest.
Or some lightweight convex surface with the contacts mounted underneath -- much lower resistance than a mechanical button or switch but less likely to go off accidentally. You could use the material from a small speaker dome and put conductive traces on the inside. Along with a cheap piezo buzzer and a 9V battery.
Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
Do searches on Google for assisted living, parapalegic touch-sensitive, and anything else you can think of. I found this link http://members.aol.com/medlabsinc/ezcall.html first try. My father was partially paralyzed from a stroke so I know that medical equipment is expensive but you may be able to gather ideas from looking at products that are out there so that you can apply them to the switch you make.
:) And try not to let the slime cracking jokes get you down. They will always come up when someone with a disability is mentioned but they'll also always be outnumbered...
Best of luck to you, and to her.
Get a cordless doorbell kit or kits and rig up a larger strike plate in place of, or on top of, the doorbell button. An 8" circle of moderately rigid plastic (such as from a plastic picnic plate) Krazy Glued to the doorbell button would probably work. The doorbells could be anywhere needed (by the bed, on the wheel chair, etc.) and the chimes could be in every room (have to make sure they're on the same frequency). Some low density foam trimmed to fit could help prevent the strike plate from snapping off while not preventing the ringing of the chime.
Q:How many libertarians does it take to stop a Panzer division? A:None. Obviously market forces will take care of it.
One of the most robust physical systems in this kind of case are the oculomotor muscles and the blink reflex. Try to make a blink detector that senses the different reflectivity of the eye and lid. Maybe an IR source (weak!) and detector directed at the eye from a headband plus a comparator, etc. Then either link this to a computer and write some software to detect a "double blink" kind of like a "double mouse click" or gin up some timer chips etc. to do the same and set off an alarm. The computer is better, and you might want to do both eyes as this could then be used as a good input source to implement a wide range of features that she may need by encoding the blink sequences. Good luck with this, my heart is with you.
Would she be able to use a light switch panel that has the large, flat switch (as opposed to a regular light switch)?
Also, a sensitive motion detector? It might be able to pick up blinking or other movements she could make moving an object like a pencil.
How about a handicapped-helper dog?
Another idea is a button she could bite on that triggers a noisemaker.
Advice: I hope you find something. Be creative. Use functions of her body which are not affected by ALS, i.e. respiration or heart rate. If either vital signs drop or accelerate to a certain point, a simple breathing monitor or heart monitor would make noise.
You could use a light sensor like those used in doorways, or automatic garage doors to produce sound from an electronic alarm. Your friend would simply have to be able to interrupt the beam of light.
Small magnet(s) on her fingers or wherever is easiest to move, and a detector to detect motion in the weak magnetic field.
No wires, probably only a ring-sized thingy to wear, and pretty discreet sensors. Could be interfaced with a computer or little built in processor; even an 8086 would be more than enough to detect certain movement patterns from sensors run through a few analog-to-digital converters.
Not the simplest, but certainly doable.
Ali
Ph33r m3!!!
As long as she has limited hand movement, build on it. Someone else here suggested buying one of those loud annoying "I'm being mugged" alarms...by default these are designed so that when contact is made, the alarm is silent, but when contact is broken (by yanking a pin/headphone jack from a plastic housing), it is loud as hell. Break apart the device and instead of breaking contact when a pin is janked from the housing, solder a couple wires to the contacts on the alarm, and have the wires barely held together (probably vertically), so that if she moves her hand, it causes them to seperate, and thus open the circuit and trigger the alarm.
Just my $0.02 USD.
--- "...And everybody died!!! Except for me, of course...you know why? Because I had my tray table up...and my seat ba
I used to work at Dynavox -- they make augmentative communication devices for people who have ALS among other ailments.
While most people accessed the devices (made them talk) by touching the touch panel, some people used sip/puff or optical switches (among other types of switches) to activate the devices.
The tash mercury switch bottom of this page might be an option, also look into proximity switches.
Could she use a button that just needs to be depressed for a second (and then locks into place?). Or a very lose toggle switch, so she can activate the alarm and not have to worry about letting go of something and it turning off.
We've been able to sense a finger from several inches away with one of these that has been adjusted correctly. If a person can move a finger up to an inch, even without being able to apply pressure with it, a sensor like this will have no problem detecting that.
(Yes, this is a tech report about the Mitsubishi Electric "Smart Drinking Glass" that was reported earlier on slashdot.)
hmm, suppose the husband has a computer. now, suppose he is asleep, so the computer is not doing much (seti and whatnot aside). now suppose the wife has a wireless mouse. suppose, now, software (screensaver-like thingy) is running on the computer so that when there is a slight movement of the mouse, it pops up, plays your favorite mp3 (or least favorite, if you want the poor guy to actually get up)
so, if the guy has a computer, he only needs to get a wireless mouse (or a long enough wire, perhaps would also work...) if he has that, then all he needs is this software, which i'm sure could be written by any number of people on here very easily and quickly.
--paul
-- Every time you kill a kitten, God masturbates.
Or you could make some type of eye gesture recognition linux box thing ... hehehehe I think the whistle could even be gpl'd if you wanted it to be. hehehe ... speaking of gpl ... all ideas are officially free to the public ... hence why I posted them to a public forum ... clever monkey eh? :-)
Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
Naturally you are looking for a motion detector with a narrow spread that you could aim at her hands. If it goes off say, 3 times, then trigger your alert. You can tweek it as you see fit. Probably have some you can even get connected to your computer.
Check out http://www.brainfingers.com/technical.htm,i ngua=en, or http://www.eyecan.ca/
http://www.qualilife.com/products.cfm?cat_ID=11&l
OTOH, I am guessing you guys are well aware
of these options and are asking specifically
for a cheap alternative. That's much tougher.
How about those Made-in-Taiwan cheep-cheep birds? they got two metal sensors on the bottom, so when you cup one in your hand it starts to cheep, just due to skin contact. Simply flip it over, and if you drop your hand on it, "CHEEP, CHEEP, CHEEP, CHEEP!"
Several things come to mind
1. touch lamp technology.
2. motion detector.
3. interrupting the path of a lazer.
4. galvonic (sp?)response, skin voltage detector.
I'd say place one of those X-10 camera systems close to her, but directed in a fashion to prevent false alarms. When the software senses movement in the video, activate some software to sound off something. Some of the software you can get for that can isolate graphically specific regions to detect movement in, and ignore the unspecified portions. If this could be mounted in a fashion to where whatever movement she can perform can be "monitored" then I think this may work. And of course, during normal day to day activity possibly have it mounted and pointing to parts of a "map" or maybe even just 4 segments of the map and have each portion of that "map" mean different things.----But I'm not sure how limited her movement is, or what she is able to move, so that would all hinge on if this would work as well. If her ability allows it, maybe even a simple chime (like the ones you pass through and hear at all 7-11's) would work if mounted strategically enough.
It seems that the most effective solution for overall quality of life would be to download her brain into a computer. Storage requirements should be relatively modest - on the order of a few terabytes. The details of the implementation will require some consideration. However this should allow for an indefinate lifespan, and an increased quality of life.
Take a piezo buzzer or Sonaralert (if you want something LOUD) and wire it to a standard-issue microswitch. You can get microswitches with actuators that are a short piece of metal about the size of a ball-point-pen clip. Actuation force can be VERY tiny (grams) with motion as little as 1/8 to 1/4 inch.
Some versions with cat-whisker actuators are also avaiable, just a bit of wire sticking straight up that you give a push in any direction. You can build something similar out of a couple of paper clips if you want REAL cheap.
You could add a latch/time circuit so you wouldn't have to keep the switch depressed, ie: a quick press would sound the alarm for some set period of time.
There are also preassembled photosensors with a light source and sensor and a gap between the two, stick a finger between them and it triggers, zero force required.
I've also seen the microswitch thing work as a blink/squint sensor. You stick the wire actuator to the skin above/below the eye and a good squint will trigger it.
One last idea, shine a low-power IR led at the corner of the eye, read the reflection brightness with a photocell. Now looking to that side causes the colored part of the eye to reduce the reflected light, triggering the sensor.
The biggest problem with running something off the eyebrow or eye look/blink is usually preventing it from going off by accident, or if the person goes to sleep.
There are also devices that actuate by sucking/blowing on a straw or pushing with the toung or chin...though these don't work so well if you're on a respirator.
Milo from Kangaroo Koncepts
See this article for the source of my inspiration.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
Take a look at this company[http://www.brainfingers.com/], they make software that can be controlled using the eyes, maybe she can find it useful in some way.
A string could be attached to her hand by a velcro band. The other end of the string could be attached to a small contact switch. This switch could control an alarm directly, or a circuit could be designed to trigger the alarm after a specified number of tugs within a specified amount of time (to reduce false alarms).
Best of luck. ALS is a very cruel disease.
I have this coaster with a football logo (University of TN if you're nosy). The slightest bit of pressure causes the horrid device to spew forth music from rocky top at a very, very high volume. Louder than my alarm clock, and by far more annoying.
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
Alarm clock:
I have a "dream machine" GE and it has a sleep button that turns on the music for a short period of time. Take it apart and run two wires from the "sleep" button, to a spring loaded switch. ( two contacts, (close proximity) and a very minor tension spring) and give her a string to pull. (the string can be attached to her wrist or hand as needed) Setting off the alarm (or music).
This keeps is simple, cheep, and her safe, as there is no electricty for her to touch.
Sorry to hear about her condidition, I wish her and her husband the best.
A simple circuit using a window/door burglar alarm magnetic switch which Radio Shack still sells could be used. Create a simple buzzer or light actuated alarm circuit with one of the magnet switches attached to her hand. Maybe even add a delay of 5-10 seconds to avoid false alarms, just in case the hand passes by the switch on accident.
Or replace the magnetic portion of this circuit with a light sensor and when the beam of light is broken. *BING*
If she can move her eyes (and blink) there are effective ways to set up a small portable computer system. I dunno if it's been all that thought through before on wearable and pervasive computing lists, but limited range of movement and wheelchair mounted systems have been discussed before.
The archives might have some important info:
http://wearables.blu.org
Take a look at this company
You know, reading this plea made me stop and think about something. I'd like to take a moment and throw this out there.
When I read about people who are pretty much trapped in their bodies because of severe illnesses, I wonder what joys they have in their lives. I have a relative with MD and a good friend with MS. For both of them, a good portion of their life is spent with media. Watching TV, watching movies, reading books (although it is difficult unless there is a way to turn pages).
Which brings me to my point/question...why don't these people have simple and easy access to media? Doesn't their life seem filled with enough hardship? Shouldn't we as a society do something for them? If all they have left in their live is audio/visual stimulation, why can't they be free to enjoy it?
We, the society, give copyrights. So why can't we, the society, grant people like this a free pass to copyrighted works. What I'm saying is, why can't people who are unlucky enough to be born/develop these illnesses be given access to a society-sponsored "Universal Jukebox".
Is it really fair to ask these people to pay full price for works the same way people who can earn a wage and will be around 40-50 years to get a sufficient return on their payment? Is it really fair to ask these people to burden themselves or family with constant errands to get new media? Most likely, these people have their hands full with the daily care of the individuals.
At the same time, the creation of a giant Universal Jukebox would be a the ultimate glove to throw down in front of the media companies. How could they possibly protest? On what grounds could they possibly resist this cause?
I think that some Senator or Congressman should propose a law offering anyone "sufficiently incapable of supporting themselves" just this. And I think the law should provide for the infrastructure to build such a Universal Jukebox. We could start with the Library of Congress. Once the Universal Jukebox is there, we can then talk about what else we can do with it (expand this to include schools, libraries for starters).
But seriously...why couldn't it happen?
- JoeShmoe
.
-- I wonder which will go down in history as the bigger failure: the War on Drugs or the War on Filesharing
This solution would only really work if she's usually relatively still at night, you could set up a simple circut that turns on something when she moves her hand out of the way of a light, or a laser-pointer.
you could work in some extra circuitry to make certian very quick brushes don't trigger the sound, but that's optional.
Ad in classifieds: Pandora's Box (no box) $5
A breath switch is something that would typically be used here, but don't build it if you can buy it. I saw one here for approx. $80: http://www.enablingdevices.com/
I wish ask slashdot questions could also help cure the disease too :\ Best of luck.
I remember in elementary school we did a cool think where you showed people it was nearly imposible to hold a 12" ruler steady enough to keep a paper clip on the end.
Perhaps you could have something that would magnify her motion and make sensors more reliable
Two wires/contact points on her fingertips, the wires go to the watch on her wrist, and set the watch alarm off when she touches her fingers together.
Synergy is your friend
Yep... (warning, will robinson, Electronics 12 and far too long since then being brought into play) probably a capacitor on the line to require a minimum connection time, and a locking transistor-based gate (or even a relay, if you're into things that go click) to hold it on after it's been held for the minimum amount of time.
Three things are needed:
1) A type of sensor (switch, photosensor, etc)
2) A noisemaker (many buzzers available)
3) A mechanism to prevent accidental firing
Radio shack has a variety of cheap switches, some using veyr little force to activate. Otherwise, the other posts will undoubtedly have recommendations for the sensor. Pick any. Cost: $2 each (need 2 or 3, see below).
Once again, Radio shack to the rescue for the buzzer. My favorite are these little 12v buzzers that sound like a fire alarm (loud as hell even at 9v). Pick any buzzer (but not a bare piezo element or speaker - they need drivers). Cost $2.
As for preventing accidental triggering when sleeping, simply wire several switches in series. All must be pressed for the alarm to sound.
Simple cicruit:
+6V ----- sw1 ---- sw2 --- sw3 --- buzz --- GND
Place it in a small metal or plastic case, attach a strechy arm/wrist band, and have her wear it. Total cost should be under $15.
Or you could take the software route and use an embedded PC104 Athlon running linux, a usb cam, and video AI to watch her eye motions. The cost would be under $2k, and software could be cobbled together in mere man months....
This has the advantage of making her look like Seven of Nine.
Dont agitated people sweat more or produce more heat?
These could be exploited fairly easilly and cheaply to design something although it would probably take alot of fine tuning.
Pixels keep you awake!
You could design a circuit with a battery and a noisemaker/speaker. Keep the circuit as a 'U' from the side of a finger to her palm, then back up to the opposing side of the next finger over. Have two metal plates on the inside of the fingers so that she could touch the sides of her fingers to complete the loop. Once the loop was complete, you have voltage and the buzzer goes off. You might have to play around with some resistors so that you don't drain the battery too fast.
Hope this helps. Good luck!
You seem to be oriented to electric devices. If power supply is required, think about making it reliable. Murphy says it will ran out or blackout in the worst moment.
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
A simple humidity switch could work whereby a finger would simply have to touch the ``button pad'' sorta thing would complete the circuit and allow current to flow. I saw these on an old hi-fi a while back and it worked great - I was about ten at the time and it took me ages to figure out how it worked.
You need to use a series of transistors and diods, with a momentary switch and access to a loud noise device. The momentary switch could be one of these:
5 Fn ame=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F010%5F007%5F001%5F 000&Page=1
http://www.radioshack.com/category.asp?catalog%
The idea is that she only needs to make contact once and then the device turns on. No need to flip a switch or something like that. Then when it gets too hard for her to press the switch, you could rig a straw to a home made breath switch and the lightest amount of breath would make contact and start the alarm. It would be cool to make this. Good luck. Paul.
If she has enough control to bend her fingers, you could attach a magnet and a small reed switch to parts of her body she can bring close together and move apart again. You can get these fairly small.
Next, you have to run the switch out to a breadboard. With a couple of monostable timers, you could rig something up that would generate an output signal after some defined sequence (switch open, switch closed for 2 seconds or less, switch open for two seconds or less, switch closed) which should cut down on false alarms. The output signal could be hooked up to some sort of piezo buzzer.
This being slashdot, I would have to suggest hooking it up to a demo microcontroller board rather than using monostable timers.
In any event, don't forget about www.digikey.com, for all the cheap parts you need that they don't stock at the strip mall.
It's not wasting time, I'm educating myself.
Exactly. Minimal distance between the contacts for a lower amperage power supply (I don't think a standard battery will connect through 4-5 inches of human skin, but 1/2 cm obviously works). a cap in parallel with whatever you want to go off (alarm or relay) after the contacts will give you a small delay as the cap charges to keep quick brushes from setting it off.
I'd love to do an ascii circuit diagram but the lameness filter will have none of that :)
Ad in classifieds: Pandora's Box (no box) $5
Hello:
You mention that a pushbutton is out of the question. Too bad, as I saw a wireless doorbell unit at Home Depot the other day for under $20 U.S.D.
The button takes extremely light pressure and they had a test unit on display. It was loud enough to hear almost anywhere in a large home.
I'm sure with some creativity it could be connected to a different sort of low voltage actuator device. (I'm assuming she is in a wheelchair except when sleeping.)
I have a friend who is a severe quad as the result of a line-of-duty injury and needs to use a breathing stick to control functions and movement of his chair, as all he has left is eye movement and very minimal neck movement.
Anyway, we bought him Vaio superslim lappie and bracket mounted it on the chair at a level he can view. Then we had a 10-13 party (we are police officers and 10-13 is the code for officer needs assistance; I only mention this for readers who may not know) and raised enough to buy head-tracking equipment and many other accessories. Not perfect but works well. Also pricey as we spent about $2,000 U.S. Basic unit is about $1,500 and works well if one has head movement. Sip/Puff switches are also available. Still worth every penny for the freedom it has given him.
If her insurance will not cover the cost there are other avenues. Often state or government agencies will assist or pay, or one can apply to private foundations.
Let us know how it's going and I'll help in any way I can--as will many others here.
Here's where we bought the gear:
http://orin.com/index.htm
Good Luck!
...somebody call MacGyver and supply him with some gum wrappers, toothpicks and duct tape.
"I may be quite wrong." - Socrates
Hot wire the motion Sensor to an alarm.. both you can proly get at radio shack.. and the radio shack guy will proly even be able to tell you what wires to cross and soder.
Then all she has to do is keep still if nothing is the matter. Which she can proly do really well.
I saw John Lennon on t.v. once with some strange device he had hooked up to his brain and an amplifyer, and he was able to play rythms over and over.. thus sort of controling what is being played. That was a long time ago, I don't member what they where called, but I'm sure they are alot better at it today.
kudos to her husband.
nasu
"What do you do with the mad that you feel when you feel so mad you could bite?" - Mister Rogers
Is ALS called "Stephen Hawking's Ailment" instead of "Lou Gehrig's Disease".
Maybe you've heard of him...
Electronics, shmoronics... Train a dog to watch and recognize her facial expressions. Train dog to jump on husband, bark and lick face. Theoretically, a normal husband wakes up to this. Modify dog response behavior until reliable husband awaking sequence found. Ok, some electronics allowed. Teach dog to paw actuator that makes sounds or dials 911. Dog will be nice companion as well. May be able to fetch things when needed.
Use a cordless door bell. With a different chime to the actual door bell - otherwise hubby will be anwering the door while wife suffers..
this is what came to my mind...
get one of the touchpad light switches. all they require is human contact to complete the circuit. No force required. Connect this to a FM transmitter that will send a signal to a device her husband can keep next to him to wake him up. The beauty of this is she can be anywhere within the transmission range and the husband can still be alerted. Plus they could have extra receivers if they wanted.
I hate to throw a wet blanket on good intentions, but have you considered the possible liability implications of what you are doing?
I work for a company that sold its biomedical division because of the horrendous liability issues associated with biomedical products. I'm not a lawyer, but I'd be surprised if you didn't have similar issues associated with this project. You might want to check on that before you give your friend your solution.
how is it flamebait to suggest a solution which not only solves the problem, but reduces the unemployment of hospice workers and gives the husband a headstart on finding a hot new trophy wife? this is rediculus, and this moderator should be banned.
Future Republican Party Presidential Nominee
This chick cant move her hands and boy do *YOU* have problems that you need to vent - asshole. have a heart.
One option you could use it a sort of cheap-ass retina tracker. I'm seeing something like this:
A small IR laser and detector combo are mounted on an arm somewhere just above her normal field of vision. The IR laser is set to pulse in maybe 1/10th second internals. The reflection properties of her eyelids and sclera (the white part I believe) are going to be different from the pupil. Light at the right frequencies will bounce off the skin and sclera but pass through the pupil. A relatively simple logic chip can detect and count any changes in reflectivity.
The point of the device would be for her to star into the laser emitter (a very very very weak laser) for a number of seconds and an alarm buzzer would go off. It is something that will work light or dark and rely only on the movement of her eyes which as you said is about all the mobility she has right now. Staring at the little emitter for say 3 seconds would be enough to have the alarm sound until someone woke up and turned it off or checked to see what was the matter. As long as she can open her eyes and move them a little she would have the ability to signal for help. All these components could be purchased from Radio Shack. It is basically just a break-beam detection system with some subtle changes in functionality. You can learn just about everything you need to build such a system yourself from two books available at Radio Shack. THey're both Engineer's Mini Notebooks written by Forrest M. Mims III. The first is entitled "Electronic Sensor Circuits & Projects" and the second is "Timer, Op Amp & Optoelectronic Circuits & Projects".
In the Electronic Sensors books check out the pulsed beam projects on pages 132 and 133, they are in essence what I'm suggesting. In the Timer Op Amp book the dark activated alerter on page 65 would be another component in the system. The sensor housing could be attached to an arm held on her wheelchair or a headband or something so the sensor would remain pretty much out of her field of view but easy enough to focus on when she needed to. Even if this idea is retarded check out those two books from Radio Shack, they're easy as can be to understand and have a good number of projects you might be able to adapt in your own system or someone else's.
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
All the parts can be had at your local Radio Shack store... including a buzzer that you can hook-up to the relay.
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/circ/alarm2.htm
Here's some more quick and easy circuit ideas... http://www.commlinx.com.au/schematics.htm
Both conductive touch sensors and tripping light beams are good ideas, mentioned multiply above. In both cases all parts can be had at radio shack, and check out the Mini Engineer's Notebooks by Forrest Mims for circuit designs for both (also sold at Radio Shack). They used to come as seperate small thin booklets, but I think recently they've compiled them all into one larger book.
In either case you'll probably want to mount the device to her hand/arm so that her finger/wrist movement (whichever is still available) is always in range of the touch/light sensor. If you're doing it on the cheap, you might look around the sporting goods section of walmart (or a sports store like Oshmans or whatever) for mounting hardware. One thing that comes to mind is the professional-style slinghots that have a brace going back over the forearm, I'm sure there's lots more material to work from around there like medical wrist supports with the metal band that goes up under the wrist and whatnot.
If you're worried about your device failing on her, and both hands work - you could build two devices, mount one on each arm, and encourage her to alternate using them so she knows they both work. You could take redundancy a step further by making one of them light-based and the other touch-based, in case one or the other designs fails in some wierd circumstance.
11*43+456^2
Give me a freaking break. This is NOT funny.
Someone please moderate this nut down to the level of an earth worm... never seen and slimy as he is.
ALS is commonly known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease", not "Stephen Hawking's Ailment".
Skiers and Riders -- http://www.snowjournal.com
Build a device to monitor her breathing. She could hold her breath to set it off. If she cannot afford a professional one, a simple way to make an air flow sensor is to run current through a thermistor. The current heats the thermistor and the air cools the thermistor. In still air the thermistor will reach a different temperature than in moving air, and thus the resistance will change and you can detect a voltage change. The best part of this device is that it should fail safely.
Why can't everything run on OSX?
Clearly, the author said that buttons and anything that requires gripping is out of the question. I'd say about a quarter of the responses here fail on this account.
I think you should get out your yellow pages and look under the "Accessability" section, and get in contact with some people that know what they're talking about. (Surely she's already got some specialized equipment for her condition so I'm sure this has already happened.)
Having said that, it makes an interesting Ask Slashdot, so here's my take. I like the puff/sip tube ideas, but if that isn't practical I would look into somehow signaling with eye movement or blinks. Again I'm sure they sell such things but since the question was how to do it on a shoestring budget (?!) I'll bite.
I would first find some sort of non-toxic paint that glows under a blacklight. A common yellow highligher would do, but there are others that glow with more contrast. Paint dots (or some other symbol) on the eyelids. Mount a small fluorescent blacklight somewhere near the headboard so that the dots glow brightly. Mount a cheap webcam somewhere in the line of sight of the wife. Now rig some software to recognise some pattern of blinks.
The idea is that if she is in trouble, she looks directly into the webcam (probably mounted on the ceiling, or otherwise in her line of sight) and blinks a pattern. The paint on the eyelids should provide enough contrast with the blacklight so that it's easy to signal process -- there would be high contrast with the rest of the scene, and the unique hue should be easy to spot. If she can open and close the eyelids fully (i.e., blink) it should provide a pretty good signal. The rest is dorking around with software and processing, but hey, this is Slashdot right?
Well..I just posted and suggest a few things but have now read YeOldeCurmudgeon's reply.
I have to agree with him. A service dog is the most reliable and elegant answer if one is available in her area. Another possibility is a trained Capuchin Service Monkey.
The only problem is that there is most probably a long waiting list for either.
I'm not making a joke here, as there was a recent 60 Minutes rerun about a man who has had one for over 20 years. I recall he was from the Boston area, as is the University lab that does the training.
For those who made jokes about this woman's situation: you showed all of us you immaturity and insensitivity. I sincerely hope you never have a friend or family member in her situation.
NY cop
take her out back and put a bullet through her head;
put her out of her misery.
Get a touch lamp and a loud boom box and a 30 second loop cassette.
Wire the touch lamp so that instead of turing on a light bulb it turns on the boom box set "11". Then the loop tape starts and plays a message asking the husband to get his ass out of bed.
If she can use her fingers well enough to touch thumb to another finger, she can touch the conductive material (aluminum foil if nothing else) together to short them out... then the buzzer goes off. This sort of device is available at Radio Shack stores plus the 'net. Cheap. Easy. The only downside is if she accidentally touches, then hubby wakes up for no good reason.
The upside to this is that by actually learning morse code (presuming she is able to learn) she could actually communicate using this device.
No one ever had to evacuate a city because the solar panels broke!
Insert the other end of the tube in her husband's ass.
Tell her to blow on it if she needs anything.
It seems to me that the use of optical switches might lead to a lot of false alarms, particularly if your friend has so little motor control.
A geekier, but perhaps more fool-proof, system would use reflected IR light off the eyelids.
A pair of lighted work-glasses could hold an IR LED and photoswitch and a computer ( or bread-boarded discrete logic ) could recognize a particular blink-pattern and sound an alarm.
my suggestion would be for a heat senstive (close range) or motion dectecting pannel that when someone moved in close protimity too, or in the case of the thermal sensor heated to an activating point, would activate an attached noise making circuit (sounding a bell, horn, or siren ....etc).
Breaking light beams and retinal scans all rely on movement to some degree. The problem is that movement is what she is losing. So how about heart rate monitoring?
Since she is *very* sedentary, her heart rate should be reasonably stable, within a small tolerence. The point is, it it possible to ones alter heart through thought process alone. As an example, if she starts to stress, it should rise. You could even set up the volume of a bell proportional to the magnitude of the rate, or the rate of change itself.
I'm thinking along the lines of those sensors they clip on a finger in hospital as a pickup, then a bit of signal processing. It's also the sort of thing you should be able to buy, instead of hacking together a cheap gadget.
This isn't exactly an answer, but my $0.02..
I'm assuming she can move both her hands minimally. So take two different working suggestions or ideas you come up with, and have them setup on both hands. This way if for some reason one of them fails, the other has a high chance of still working. Using two different ideas also increases the chances incase the reason the one isn't working is a defect that another one would also share. I'm assuming this isn't life-or-death is it?
..There's a-dooin's a-transpirin'
I work on a spinal cord injury unit at a VA hospital. We work with people of all levels of disability, including advanced ALS patients.
Can she move her tounge? There are simple switching devices that can be placed in a person's mouth that can be tripped with a tounge movement.
Can she breathe (i.e. not on a ventilator). There are all kind of "sip-and-puff" devices out there that can generate several signals based on whether or not the person is sipping or blowing.
You said she can see, and has some eye movement. We have patients who are trained using eye gaze computers.
A search on google for adaptive devices, adaptive technology, a call to a local rehab hospital should all be able to provide you with information with regard to devices already available. Even if this person can't afford these things, it may give you ideas as to what you can build for her. I'm sorry I can't provide specific info, as our rehab staff/prosthetics department takes care of actual building and ordering.
When you work with people with a serious impairment, in a rehab setting, its truly remarkable what can be built/developed to take advantage of even the slightest behavior a person can elicit.
hth,
jeff
Use an eye movement tracking device connected to a computer, so that she can move a mouse pointer on the screen and "press" buttons on a gui just by blinking an eye for more than a second (to avoid false alarms). Then write a simple app that based on which button was pressed plays a sound, calls an emergency number or activate any other device connected to the computer.
X10-like stuff can do the rest.
And.. even if it may sound trollish or just funny, I'm damn serious about that. Please just don't do the above under any Windows operating system if you can't provide a reliable way to allow her pressing ctrl+alt+del on the computer.
Best luck to your friend.
Get her a Compaq IPAQ she can touch. Whenever I think about touching mine, it gives me a very loud, very obnoxious low battery warning. (Usually in the middle of church. Her husband would have to be sleeping pretty deep to miss it.)
A hack is just an idiom waiting for wider use.
Radio Shack sells a package with a RF transmitter and receiver for $24.99 USD when the transmitter is toggled into the on position the receiver can turn on any device plugged into a wall outlet. This can be anything that makes a lot of noise. Personally I would plug in a tape of Carmina Burana (sp?) or some other loud classical music which is guaranteed to get the husband's attention but is not as anoying as a buzzer or alarm.
The beauty of this solution is that it is RF, and not infrared so the receiver has a greater range and does not need to be line of sight. In other words the alarm can be in the living room, and the transmitter in the bedroom.
The second part of this problem is that the little transmitter is probably too small to be useful for your friend. However I am sure any 12 year old with a screw driver, wires and a small solder iron could jury-rig a new, bigger, switch that works with the existing transmitter.
Hope this helps.
Everyone else has posted how to build the circut and what to use as a trip device. I wanted to throw in my two cents about a noise maker.
Go find a car alarm siren (from old car or kragen, autozone, etc). They are cheap and designed for twelve volts (though you dont even need this much). I have connected one of these two a 9v bat and its VERY VERY loud. Loud enough to wake the husband and neighbors husband and wife, and their neighbors, etc. (Or somewhere close).
snowulf.com
I'm at a loss to recall the name of the product, but there is a standalone version of those grey pads that are mouse replacements on laptops.
Rubbing your finger on these things, even lightly, causes a mouse to move, and tapping the pad is like clicking the left button.
I seem to recall the sensitivity can be set very high, so you wouldn't need much motion or pressure.
Good luck.
Cheers...
Come on, I've seen a +4 for an Onion reference and this only gets +2?
Warning: This *IS* far-fetched, but ALS is not a common illness, and uncommon illness would require extra-ordinary solutions as well.
premise: the motor skill will dwindle from even today, to un-measureabe values in the future. i suspect this will eventually affect her ability to press buttons, let alone speak / make noise, maybe even move her eyes.
the only solution left, then is:
1) the easy way out: hire a nurse. i mean... really now. taking care of an ALS patient is not something just one husband is capable of.
2) the geeky way. wire up a brain signal detector that she would wear at night, or, if you can tune a *really* sensitive antenna, it can be mounted at the top of the bed. while her motor skill is not completely gone, let her train to think of a pattern and allow the computer to capture this data, match it, and sound an alarm / buzz / cattle prod connected to the husband's you-know-what (if he is a heavy sleeper).
this will probabbly work better than "low pressure buttons" and what not. reliability may become an issue, but if programmed correctly it should be sufficiently reliable that it's not a big problem.
p.s. an easier version of this is a blood pressure detector -- when people want something (her to wake up her husband) and cannot get it, the blood pressure inevitably rises, and that pattern too can be used to trip a switch.
there will be false alarms, though... REM sleep is quite full of challenges. but hey, if you can't / don't want to hire a nurse, and she can't do nothing...
last point. camera (infrared, prefabbly) can be connected to look at her eyes. alarm only trips if they are open. (or trip an alarm if she blinks a certain pattern, whatever. but our premesis is that she can't do much of that either... so...
the possibilities are out there. just gotta find 'em
My life in the land of the rising sun.
By turning here hand I mean simply flipping here palm in order and having it face the ceiling. If she can in fact flip here palm I'd recommend you get a door opened sensor like the ones made by Heath Company. Attach one sensor to here arm and the other to the ceiling right above here palm. Plug the remote beeper into an outlet next to the husband. When she flips here palm the remote beeper should theoretically start beeping. I believe X10 makes door opened sensors too although i doubt the quality of their product is any good. Good luck.
My wife is a Speech & Language Pathologist who is also a Assistive Technology Practitioner. This basically means she is certified in AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) & AT (Assistive Technology). This problem is the very thing covered by this field. They work with anyone who's verbal communication skills are lacking for what ever reason, no matter the physical or cognitive handicap.
I've seen the devices created for such problems both with children and the elderly. It usually involves foam, some wires and a battery operated device. Simple, easy to use and just as important, cheap. Many of the suggestions posted thus far have been over engineered.
Now, on the tech side of things. This profession could use some help with small devices (PDA size) and a free OS (you choose). There is a device on the market that allows a patient to select pictures to form sentences (or phrases). Currently they are in the thousands of dollars and insurances don't always cover the cost. Typically for children the parents sue the school district and the district is forced to make the purchase with next year's funds (read: higher taxes). It would be nice if cheaper alternatives were available.
If she's in somesort of resting state 99 percent of the time a large foam landing pad to (movementprovided) land on that is atached to a pully system that rings LARGE bells
Get an ADXL-202 MEMS accelerometer (Analog Devices will send you a few for free as samples)
m s/car_app.pdf
The new version is a chip smaller than a fingernail and can be mounted on a ring on the finger.
Use the circuit from the Analog Devices Tech Note
USING THE ADXL202 ACCELEROMETER AS A MULTIFUNCTION SENSOR (TILT, VIBRATION AND SHOCK) IN CAR ALARMS
from: http://www.analog.com/library/applicationNotes/me
The ADXL-202 has neglible weight and is very responsive, the primary trick is to set the threshold so as to avoid twitches and involuntary motion.
The same circuit exists in tilt-pad gamepads and can be canablized from the unit providing a simple USB interface
Maybe not good, but pick two...
People talk about touch plates. A quick approximation of the type of device you would want exists already in the form of those stuffed little animals that have a couple of contacts on the bottom and when you pick it up it chirps / moos / barks / meows...
I see a lot of good ideas, even if only a few are applicable. However, I see two problems nobody's really pointed out clearly, so I'll do it.
First, there's always the concern about Murphy's Law and reliability. You want redundancy on that note; build a battery tester into any electronics, use a UPS on anything requiring AC, if you go the wireless-remote-switches-on-the-stereo route...
Second, there's a bigger problem... how do you communicate "Serious emergency!" quickly versus conventional *important* but not life-threatening events, such as, say, the need to empty a catheter? Good intentions or not, overuse of the emergency alarm will make it less of a 'shock' to immediately wake the husband, and in life-threatening situations, that'd be a big problem.
I'd suggest two systems for both purposes. One a 'fire alarm' meant for fairly continual triggering, another a 'chirping bird' or similar for everyday problems. The latter would use a different triggering mechanism, different power supply, etc, and be meant for intermittent triggering. It would be understood that constant-triggering (e.g., fingers clenched, hand dropped, steady blinking, whatever proves to work) means something bad is up- the first system has failed.
Just a thought.
Before modding this as off-topic, bear in mind that pets are proven to have a psychological connection with their owners. Most of the time they can detect something amiss with their owners even before he/she discover it themselves.
Dogs are recommended due to their loud barks and higher dexterity (depending on the breed).
Welley Corporation - SLM Scammers
Face it, she's as good as dead. Don't prolong the quickly approaching inevitable.
Take an old mouse, pull a micro-switch off the circuit board (used for the button) and superglue a flat plastic plate to it. A very small amount of pressure on the plate will cause the switch to be depressed. You can hook up a fairly simple latch circuit to take this momentary contact input and trigger a relay hooked to an alarm.
You could use a 555 IC with a regular relay or
you could even use an off the shelf latch relay like The KL Type relay on this page.
Krishna
--- I'd love to go out with you, but I have to study for a Turing test.
There are already plenty of great ideas here, including a variation on the one I was to recommend. Looking at this from an engineering standpoint, I'll put forth the two premises that are foremost in my mind: A. The patient's lack of mobility persists in sleep; no tossing or turning. B. The alarm should be built as a failsafe; the alarm will be silent as long as the patient maintains effort to keep it silent.
Remember that a light detector works better at detecting the presence of light than it does at failing to detect the absence of light.
So, my variation would be based on the light sensor array. Place a reasonably bright light in front of a resonably sensitive detector. Set the system so the alarm goes off when the detector sees light. Place the patient's hand (or fingertip) over the light (apertured so that it is just barely completely covered). Slight motion of the hand (or finger) lets the light sneak past and the detector will trigger. The patient won't need to move much to trigger it, but false alarms should be rare since it is the patient's lack of mobility that necessitates the alarm.
Best of luck with whatever solutions you pursue, and I hope it aids your friend and her family.
What exactly can go wronger?
This is the only link I could find.
If the immediate problem is that she can't make enough noise from the bell to wake her husband, how about a sensitive amplifier and speaker - a baby monitor. Exceedingly cheap, analog, portable and pretty reliable.
The same solution could be used to augment a heart rate monitor. A wrist heartrate 'watch' with an alarm for exceeding a certain heart rate would become louder.
It's a sad problem. Best of luck.
Eye motion seems to last longer than other motor skills, so that in mind:
A pair of glasses with an IR LED that shines on the eye and a IR detector to pick up reflections. There should be a difference in IR reflectivity between eyelid closed and eyelid shut. A circut can count the number of times or look for a pattern to trigger the alarm.
Bryan Baskin
Another ALS sufferer is Jason Becker. He was an awesome guitarist until this crippling disease struck him down. You might want to consider trying to get in touch with him: http://www.jasonbecker.com/. Good luck.
May need to account for tremours or other vibration, but should be straightforward...
It's supposed to be completely automatic, but actually you have to press this button.
Put the microphone under a hand. Set the gain control to produce enough noise when the microphone is rubbed or tapped. The speaker goes next to whoever has to wake up. To eliminate wires, connect the microphone to a small FM transmitter. Use an FM radio at the output end. Anyone who has accidently rubbed a lapel microphone knows the effect.
Retinal movement... yeah, sure. Much more precise than watching eye movements.
Suggestions:
Hook up a touch or contact switch (this has already been mentioned to death in here) to some sort of wireless remote. The receiver can then be worn by the husband allowing contact while not physically in the room. At night the husband can put it on a bedside table or something.
Better is to use a pair of (cheap) walkie talkies, that have a morse code option. This still allows the husband mobility, and he can actually respond to his wife without being physically present. This can allow some very simple but effective "Yes, No, I don't know, Help" conversations, as the husband can ask questions, while say, doing stuff in the back yard or garage, and can easily respond to allieve his wife's fears (eg: "I'll be there in a minute", "I'm coming!", etc). The only issue might be one of frequency use (by kids and so on), but you could always go to some of the commerical variants that have their own band/use digital transmission to avoid interference, or maybe modify the walkie talkies to use a different frenquency.
If you give her 3 or 4 touch sensors, then she can (technically) type easily. Remember how you enter your name in a video arcade game? Exactly the same idea. You could also use multiple buttons to scroll between pre-canned answers or words, such as "drink", "help", etc. You could even combine this with some sort of voice synthesis program to generate speech. And there is no reason you couldn't integrate this with the walkie talkie idea, so that she and her husband can communicate over a distance. Hell, she could send SMS's this way, use a phone, or even web browse, use e-mail or perhaps IRC. Might help her relieve some of the (potential) boredom in her life, that being so limtied in mobility would probably create. There are a number of easy ways to interface input into a PC, such as the joystick, parallel or serial ports, and lots of documentation. There are also a fairly large number of devices that will convert serial input into PS/2 keyboard or USB keyboard input, which allows use of a PC in a somewhat normal manner.
If you do go for something complicated (eg: a PC System), ALWAYS have a backup (preferrably battery operated) like the walkie talkie idea. Systems fail, the power goes off, etc, and the last thing you want is it to fail when she needs it most.
Good luck!
That's funny. I posted the exact same thing. I guess I'm not original ;)
First idea - a induction switch, like some lamps have. You tap the metal of the lamp, and it turns on or off. In this case, it could be a metal plate that she just touches. Her body triggers the switch, and it's perfectly safe if built correctly (which is easy). It's a typical electronics projects for kids - I built a few, back when I was building crystal radios and the like.
Second, a motion sensor from X10 mounted in a box that she merely has to pass her hand though. They operate off of lithium CR320? batteries (I don't recall them off the top of my head - the standard kind), and will run off the battery for quite a long time. When triggered, they can perform any action in the X10 system, including set off an X10 alarm, dial out, or if hooked up to a computer, peform any action the computer can do.
The nice thing about the latter solution is that you can do it with three pieces of cheap off the shelf equipment, probably for under $40 (much less without the dialout module). Otherwise, the first is the best - a simple tap of her skin to the plate triggers a switch, no pressure or significant motion is required.
--
Evan (no reference - must get back to work now)
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
Not that I can wire up a circuit, or that I'm volunteering Slashdot readers, but do you need help assembling the device? I know there's so many times I've been in brainstorms but never been able to follow through because I have just enough knowledge of a technology to be dangerous.
Perhaps if you need help putting this device together someone out there can give you a hand.
but I used to volunteer at a center that made enabling devices for those who aren't so able.
(By the way, Bernie, rest in peace. Bernie Bourdon was the man who made the place possible.)
The simplest device is a stick on a fulcrum, hung vertically. On the bottom end, tie a string, and tie that string to her bell. Her one inch of hand movement should easily be able to actuate it.
Going more high-tech, get a joystick (The old-school analog 2-button Commodore 64 kind. You can find them all over the place and Radio Shack may even still carry them) and use all direction sensors on the thing as a switch to close a circuit on a noisemaker.
Just remember to check the batteries.
If she has the ability to bite
rip your car alarm out of your car and hook it up to a car battery in the house. configure a retainer like device to hold the alarm keychain in place.
FREE and you don't have to leave your house
Having done some work with the disabled, here are some suggestions for sensors.
Touch (Capactive switches)
Beam (light, ultrasound, IR triggers)
Magentic (Reed switches)
Tilt (Mercury switches)
I'll only touch on Magnetic and Tilt switches, as the others have adequately been covered by a number of people.
Magnetic switches are easily and cheaply bought anywhere you can get house alarm parts. They are very simple, last a lifetime, and work really well. Using a tiny magnet strapped to a finger allows you to use a number of reed switches so there is a choice of "what to do".
Tilt switches are easily worn on the finger, or on the head. Some care must be taken to encase the deadly mercury as the glass container may be easily broken, and mercury is poisonous. The way I would encase such switches would be by first finding a glue that is capable of sticking to GLASS and plastic, and coating the glass covered mercury switch in it. This way, if the glass cracks, the pieces will usually stay together. Let it dry, then dip it in hot plastic a number of times. You can then put it inside a piece of dense foam rubber (use a glue that sticks to rubber and plastic to keep it in place). The goal is that if you accidently stand on it, it won't break.
I've used both methods before to provide something that a disabled child can use, usually to encourage them to make some sort of movement. One Example: Mercury tilt sensor attached to a head strap with velcro (for position adjustment), to encourage the child to 'lift' their head (helps build up the neck muscles and train the brain). The mercury switch was usually wired into a radio or tape deck, switching it on or off. It also provided some real insight into what sort of music some of the kids liked, as after a little training, they would drop their head when something they didn't like would come on, and then every now and then raise their head to "check" what was playing now.
Good luck.
Use Ambrotose. This will make the autoimmune stuff less. READ about it at www.glycoscience.com.
I suggest a portable biofeedback monitor. My GF uses one for muscle problems. They have a light, relatively small sensor that can be taped to the skin. When the muscle underneath is tensed, the alarm goes off - and the trigger level is widely adjustable.
The device she uses is walkman sized and cost about $500 from a company in Canada. The brand name is Myotrac.
Any working muscle will do and the thing is very sensitive, with gain as well as level controls. And very easy to use. Google turns up lots of hits, here's the manufacturers URL: http://www.thoughttechnology.com/myotrac.htm
As a bonus, the engineers answer the phone and will gladly discuss your intended use.
Her husband should just place a kazoo in her mouth before they go to sleep. She needs help, just exhale real hard.
The X-10 system sends signals through the house's power wiring to turn things on. In this case you could set several chimes around the house to ring when the same code is sent.
There are several options for switches to ring the chimes: Motion detector, infrared beam sensors, contact sensor, and various types of switches and handheld remotes.
Notice the "Powerflash" dry contact transmitter lets you simply connect a whatever switch you want. (Well, you can't use a 110 volt "touch" switch) At Radio Shack or a hardware or automotive store you can find several switches, such as a "microswitch" with a lever on it. Or install a magnetic switch in a piece of wood, with a magnet on a string hanging pendulum-like over the switch, so hitting the string makes the switch close.
too bad Amercian pesu-democatic system will never allow legalization of euthonasia. Take a trip to europe with her.
Down with Crapitali$m. Anarchy NOW!
Use a battery powered Radio Shack Alarm kit or 25-in-one experimenters kit, etc for the basic electronics, latching and noise maker circuits. The kits have instructions and all the components you'll need to tailor the device for your friend's needs. You'll be able to fiddle with sensitivity, tone and volume, etc.
Use a "rain sensor" (sold with most of the experimenter's kits) to trip the alarm circuit. It's basically a 1-2" disk with copper foil on one side. Gently pressing skin against it can trip the alarm. It can be put on an umbilical and attached to to something within easy reach. I'd use velcro stick-um thingies so the device could be portable and attach to the chair, bed. etc. - Best of luck.
It's obvious that whatever method of activation the device takes form as, that the sound emitted should be, in a voice that could wake the dead:
:p
"Arise! Arise! Riders of Theoden!"
*snicker*
This is what I get for just watching FotR again.
you know one of those with mercury switches inside, all she whould have to do is rock the toy and it goes off and starts singing it's a small world or something. We have a couple around here for our kids. One is a Vtech ball and the other is mickey and friends. They sit quietly until disturbed(doesn't take much to set them off), and they make quite a racket complete with blinking lights.
If she can..how about a whistle?
I sorta enjoy the scene in "One flew over the cookos nest" when the big Indian guy puts jack out of his misery
Down with Crapitali$m. Anarchy NOW!
Any of us can rig a noise-maker. Not hard at all. The trick is how to trigger it. If her range of autonomus motion is exactly as you have specified, then I would recommend looking for switches that can be controlled by factors that she has direct control of, without depending on motor neurons. ie: completing the connection through sweat, biofeedback, heart-rate monitor, body temp, etc. If she has some kind of around-the-house mobility, then you could also look into devices such as sensitivity plates, IR beams, good-old-fashioned trip-wires, etc that she could roll across, break, or otherwise force the circuit. If pets exist, precautions may need to be made to ensure they don't trip the system.
If necessary, you could relay other circuits in the house to generate more attention getting actions. ie: turning on the lights, radio, tv, etc. However, the wiring for such a project may be cost-prohibitive.
Good luck in your search.
I don't exactly understand what your friend is doing now to activate the bell and what you are trying to accomplish. Does she currently have a bell that she bats at, or maybe a string tied to the bell? Seems like if she could make a bell ring you could devise some sort of switch to activate a sound. Try the lever type of switch (The one that looks like a joystick), or maybe a string of some sort attached to a switch like on a ceiling fan. Or is the idea of this project to determine how she can cope without any movement? The air tube ideas are reasonable if she can control here mouth and breath that way. Given the premise that she can't move I'm having difficulty coming up with a plan that could be put together cheaply at radio shack. If the only thing she can change is the position of her eyes it seems like only an engineer could get radio shack to make it work.
How about using one of the new gloves with sensors placed in them. Wired had one a while back that was designed on a golf glove and used for sign language, built with off the shelf parts and there are the newer gaming gloves that might be adaptable.
You could use one of those bing bong things that are used to detect people going through the door. She would just need to break the light beam or move the mirror to make it sound. I think you can get them at Radio Shack.
I hear Euthenasia is legal there
People, someone who is dealing with what could only be described as a neurological nightmare has asked us to put our heads together and try to help.
Please put to kabash on the mean, sarcastic and pointless responses.
I've got no original suggestions, but I did want to say thanks to all you who responded for restoring a bit of misplaced faith in the good that can come out of geekdom. Hope it sticks around.
I don't know about afordability, but it seems like a set up such as the one in the movie "Bone Collector" might work.
Take about a 5" spring and mount it vertically on a mounting plate. Attach a tilt switch to the top of the spring to create a normally open switch. Attach the switch in a way that jostling the spring closes the switch. Attach the switch leads to a normal door bell. If you want high tech use a wireless doorbell (Disassemble the switch, add the tilt switch, and put the whole thing on the spring. Mercury switches are great for this but the mecury is obiviously dangerous. I have seen tilt switches the consist of a metal marble in a cage of wires which also would work.
SD
âoeWho knew something as harmless as willful ignorance could end up having real consequences?â
Just fix a reed switch somewhere where her hand can rest at night, and have her wear a ring with a small magnet in it.
:')
If she moves the ring next to the reed switch, it goes off.
For the siren, I seem to recall Maplin selling a nice one that was designed to replace factory steam whistles. about 142db IIRC. Should do the job
Escoutaire
When a dream dreams the dreamer, the dreams the real.
A kazoo! Or, some simple evolution thereof. Respiration ok.. blow in, you get noise.
Dump the IRS - http://www.fairtax.org
check out http://deafdogs.org. remote controlled vibrating dog collars that work up to 300ft. If she's really worried about being able to wake the guy, there are vibrating collars with electric shock. $100.
While MUCH more exotic than you were looking for, but for more long term use, the Nikon F5 has eye tracking. I don't know (I'm sure somebody does, though) who makes the eye-tracker, but something like that could be stripped, and interfaced through a computer.
She could learn Morse code (a good idea for someone who may lose the ability to speak even if you don't build this thing), and use the computer to decode to speech, perhaps even control the computer at some point.
-twb
Ok, given that this is dealing with life-critical applications, I'd approach it in the most fail-safe method possible... That and of course while it is necessary to attempt to prevent false alarms due to regular movement and activity, if it is an emergency, warning is needed as soon as possible.
Start with a trigger, something like a touch switch or whisker switch (low trigger point). Either way, it should be Normally Closed. This way any wire failure/loss of power triggers the alarm.
In addition, I would include a heart monitor as a back-up system... doing something with breathing monitoring would probably be to invasive, especially if she is trying to sleep, although it would provide another layer of safety. In any case, any sensors added should output a normally energised signal (as above).
Take whatever inputs you have, and wire them though Relays (Hooked to Open Contact, Delay On Close) in Parallel, so that any sensor trips the alarm. The wiring on that may seem backwards as it then gives another energised loop (fail-safe).
which I would hook to the buzzers through 2-3 manually reseting relays (hooked to a reset button) in parallel (with status lights wired in) to provide redundancy and protect against equipment failure. This final loop would connect to the buzzer(s) (and using relays the voltage and amerage can be increased to whatever is necessary).
Obviously using an IC control or similar would eliviate some of the extra wiring, although Relays are generally fairly cheap, easy to come by, easy to monitor/replace, and fairly easy to hook up.
All idea are good but as she continues on there All electronc ones will fail after awhile due to the deteration of the illness.
:)
Check with your local S.P.C.A. Also the national ALS orginazation. You are looking for a dog that is trained for the handcap for this special task. There are other program that train dogs for vairous task and a dog will get some up under any conditions.
I think there is one in Oceanside California that may train a helper that could handler her needs. Also the benifits of the love and affection may also help her mental aspect.
Also try this link to the national ALS group.
http://www.alsa.org/resources/
and
http://www.alsa.org/resources/product.cfm
You may want to even try IBM. At one time they had stuff that could help the handcap.
Good luck with your friend.
You might want to have any electrical awakening device on as different a power connection (i.e. battery / fuse) as you can (while still retaining reliability) from any of her support equipment, in case a power failure is the cause for alarm.
... since she can't move her eyes that much ... you do this...
when her head is laid on the bed
because she can't move and her eyes don't move much.. you want to angle the eye scanner at a slight angle away from her normal looking position.. so in case she is in trouble while sleeping.. she can open up her eyes and look towards the eye scanner...
because the eye scanner doesn't really need to do any real pattern recognition it doesn't require like complicated software... it just needs to pick up that an image of a big circle and a little circle is exactly looking at the sensor.
This gives me an idea for a similar sytem.
Make two plates(ie out of plastic) and glue springs to each corner of one plate, facing upwards. The springs should be just strong enough to hold up the second plate.
Now glue metal contacts onto each of the plates and wire them to an electric buzzer.
Place the top plate on top of the springs.
In order to activate the system simply place hand on top of the plate, the weight alone should force the two contacts together, activating the buzzer.
If you cut a section out of a nightstand and install the device so that the top plate is flush with the stand's surface she can rest her hand on the stand and activate the buzzer by moving her hand an inch or two so that it rests on the device. For added security you can connect the system to an autodialer that will call you/911 with a pre-recorded message.
The best bet is a simple buzzer for the alert itself (555 timer + a speaker or just a piezo buzzer).
As far as the trigger goes, many good ideas have already been given. The canidates I see are:
1.) Mercury or "ball switch". Mercury switches are glass or plastic tubes with to wires in them. When the mercury flows to one end of the tube it shorts the wires out. Similarly, there are switches used to detect inclines that have two wires that a small ball can roll against. Couple this with creative use of velcro and you have a reasonably easy to use switch. Strap it around the head, wrist, etc and adjust it's angle to work with the degree of movement the person has.
2. IR break-beam sensor. Several people have mentioned using IR or light sensors. The main problem is that ambient light interferes with straigt IR or photo sensors. One good way to get around this is a modulated IR detector like remote controlls use. Use something like a 555 time to generate the required 44 KHz signal (cookbook circuits exist for this on the web) and genertate the modulated source. Then use a stock detector (available at most electronic shops such as radio shack) to trigger the buzzer.
3. Touch sensors. Things like touch lamps can use the 60Hz noise that exists all around us to trigger another device. Your body just acts like an antenna for the signal. When it gets a signal it triggers (these types are prone to false triggers during lightning storms).
Another general idea for you: go to the nearest university with an electrical engineering program. Tell them your situation. I would be willing to bet that there would be student EE's (electrical engineers) thrilled to devote hours to solve your problem. Many times things like this work out to be nice honors/senior design projects.
Good luck!
First, this is intended for night-time use only by a person who won't roll around in her sleep. My thought is to have some fun with a pair of cheap glasses (perhaps sans eyepieces). 2 photo/IR-diodes and 2 IR LEDs, one pair for each eye. Tune the feed back on the photo-diodes so they are off when her eye is closed and on when her eye is open (or vice versa). If you use light-based diodes, then the whites of her eye would be more reflective than her eyelids (closed eyes).
Hook the two up to a differential circuit. To sent off an alarm, she would simply have to open one eye and keep the other closed - not a task most of use do naturally. Hopefully this could work when there is more ambiant light around too, since its a differential.
The added benefit is that you only need high gauge wire and 4 light-weight LEDs on these glasses - not a heavy or cumbersome device. Worst thing weight-wise would be a AA battery that would be kept with the rest of the circuitry on an external board.
Please tell us whatever you come up with! We /.'ers rarely have a chance to do more than bitch about RIAA, DCMA, or sling code around - we like to be humanitarians on occassion too!!!
Maybe the best thing would be if something did "go wrong" at night, and hubby didn't wake up. One less useless mouth to feed.
May I suggest that while Slashdot may enjoy playing "adaptive device technology developer", because it is kind of fun, you should absolutely do what the parent of this post suggested. This situation is too critical to use anything but proven technology. If you try to kludge something together and it fails, you may end up in a situation you will never forgive yourself for, not to mention anyone else who cares about this woman.
I myself kinda think the idea of biofeedback is neat... but this isn't the time to experiment. Go to the experts and do what they say. Neither you nor the rest of Slashdot put together can possibly match the experiences of the entire community built around supporting these people.
On a more prosaic note, I would be very deeply concerned about the potential legal liability of creating your own solution to this problem. You may find that your best friends are ir(?)rational enough to sue for damages if your homegrown device fails. (On reflection, perhaps that would be perfectly rational behavior, for some definitions of rational. Surprisingly deep philosophical question.)
www.pulsar.org
Located at Syracuse University, they've been making custom interfaces for special needs people for a while. Fun bunch, friendly, and THEY KNOW WHAT THE HELL THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT
Any kid's electronics kit (the kind with components mounted
permanently on a board, with the little springs that you stick
the wires into to make the connections, and an instruction book
with a few predetermined circuits that do different things,
like make LEDs blink or sound the buzzer) comes with a diagram
for one of those dual-circuit tripwire type circuits. (I
forget the technical term for them.) I believe a single
transistor is the soul of the beast. Anyway, there's one
circuit that carries some current all the time, but if you
break it, the other circuit fires and sounds the buzzer or
whatever. Some primitive burglar alarms use this principle.
The reason I mention this is, it's easier to make a switch
that will _open_ easily, than to make one that can be
_closed_ easily. All you need is to ballance a wire
precariously across two contacts, and just about any
accidental touch will knock it off at least one of them --
instant open circuit.
_Somewhere_ I think I have a circuit diagram for one
of these things... it's probably in my closet, but you
can probably find instructions for it on the web faster
than I can dig it out of there.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
Some sort of pulse/heart rate detector would be extremely useful. That way when her heart rate changes for whatever reason .. including stress/panic .. the system can alert her husband.
make sure such systems are reliable as far as false alarms, if it's not reliable then when there's something serious it may get ignored.
There is a fair amount of research and product development aimed towards solving your friend's problem. Please take a look at the url's below:
See what we are doing at the
Terrific info site at University of Nebraska
http://aac.unl.edu
Communication and Assistive Device Lab (my lab): http://aac.buffalo.edu
RERC on Augmentative Communication: http://www.aac-rerc.com
Enkidu Research:
http://www.enkidu.net
If you need any more info, don't hesitate to write me
cdsjeff@buffalo.edu
Jeff Higginbotham
Scientists and Engineers working in the area of prosthetic limbs have been dealing with the issue of controlling motorised limbs, without buttons (etc...) for a while now.
Why not go to your local hospital and talk about adapting some of this technology to monitor nerve endings along the arm, and/or legs (etc..)?
Using this method she could not only ring alarms, but with sufficient practise and a voice replication system, start stringing together whole sentences.
Every post I have read here is along the lines of 'She does X and Y happens', which is the blazingly obvious answer to the question, but obvious is not always best and simplest. Why not look at this from a different perspective, in fact the opposite apporach. Imagine a solution where she STOPS doing something to trigger the alarm. This approach has many benefits.
First a minor description of the device. Imagine a switch, or a pair of contacts that her finger rests on, and the default is that the contact is made. When she moves her finger OFF the switch, and breaks the contact, the alarm is triggered. If you have a simple circuit with 2 wires and a battery, she doesn't have to move much, a wire's breadth to trigger it. By selecting the contacts, you can also set sensitivity.
A benefit to this is you can set it up so she has to exert effort to keep the switch closed, for example setting the switch on the side of her finger. If she relaxes, her finger drops, the circuit breaks, and the alarm goes off. This would be usefull if she passes out, or stops breathing. When she looses control, wether or not she is able to move, the alarm goes off.
The downside is that you would have to have a second setup for times when she is asleep, or otherwise not able to exert the effort on the switch, but that can be easily dealt with.
Another benefit of this type of switch is that when the battery dies, it goes off. Granted, that can get annoying, but if there is a problem, and the battery has no juice, she dies. Not good. (Before you say something like 'but we will always change the batterys regularly', I am an admin. People are stupid forgetfull sheep, and don't do things even when thier lives, or that of thier loved ones depend on it. Think system backups, there is a reason they are automated.).
The alarm this type of thing is connected to is irrelevant, the trick how it is triggered. By its very nature, incapacitation generally leaves you incapacitated possibly unable to trigger the alarm. Think dead man's switch, and you have your answer. Cheap, easy, and rather foolproof.
-Charlie
I hate to go offtopic here, but I wanna use my automatic point for being subscribed to point something out:
[I] have a friend who has ALS (Stephen Hawking's ailment)...
I know most of us are computer nerds, but how the FUCK does something like Lou Gehrig's "I feel like the luckiest man on the face of the earth" speech get forgotten? Matt Groening spoofed it. The one book that actually brought ALS to public attention (Tuesdays with Morrie, a very inspiring read) mentions it. Have we all forgotten ALS' common name, Lou Gehrig's Disease?!! Jesus FUCK!
</VENT>
Matthew G P Coe
http://mgpcoe.blogspot.com/
If she can still move her hand even slightly, a simple debounced latch w/ Hall sensors detecting the change in position of the magnetic ring on her finger may be a good trigger for a buzzer & light combo. The sensors could be set in a tube so motion in any direction sets it off. If she has enough control maybe this could even be a way to code out a message.
For the Source is my ally, and a powerful ally it is.
Unless that was sarcasm, I think you're a disgusting piece of you-know-what.
I think this idea is on the right track. A Biofeedback sensor is a very simple circuit with an amplifier that any first year ee student could build with minor difficulty. It could be used in conjunction with an RF transmitter to communicate muscle movement to a computer. The receiver could be attached to the computer's serial port. The computer, listening on the serial port, would process the signals received and execute certain functions according to the data received. For instance 3 muscle contractions could mean to signal for her husband. This would sound some sort of alarm to notify him. By taking most of the processing away from the wearable unit it allows for both a lighter unit and more expandability. The computer also could be used to execute different procedures. A different muscle contraction could signal the computer to dial a modem for help or even send an email or SMS.
Take the Dasher interface mentioned a while ago and link it to a text to speech engine(festival) and give your friend a fairly quick and easy way to talk.
The Duck
Dasher http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/
Festival http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/projects/festival/
If someone built her a big bong, it would definitely make her last days on earth a lot better. Hell, I'd even come over and take a hit.
You will want to use an incredibly delicate touch-sensing technique called "charge transfer sensing"
You can get these sensors from qprox.com and they are very easy to make into useful circuits.
Essentially, the human body has a couple hundred picofards of capacitance. Using charge transfer techniques, a qprox chip can detect when this capacitance touches its input terminal.
Here is the beauty: you can connect its input pin to any condutor, making the entire conductor sensitive. So, you could make a faucet, a metal lamp base (ever wondered how the touch-on, touch-off lamps worked) or just a piece of copper tape into the sensor. When a person ever-so-slighly touches electrode, the qprox chip will flip a logical output high. You can then connect this output pin to anything... an LED, a buzzer, whatever...
I estimate $5 in parts and 100% reliability/performance.
If you go this route, let me know, I have written a couple papers on the evaluation of qprox chips and the mechanism of charge trasfer sensing for Sandia Nat'l Labs.
Any physical therapist who works with kids or neuro patients will be able to set you up, or will know somebody who can.
You want a simple low pressure switch with a large lever, or a piezo trigger or inductance type switch, or other low to no-pressure activation device. IR laser blink monitor might be worth looking at as well if her condition warrants the expense.
The trick is not the device itself, as many things will work. What is needed is an experienced professional to set up the right system and monitor useage as her condition progresses.
If all else fails and you are in the USA, contact the New York Medical College in Valhalla NY, ask for the Physical Therapy department and explain what you want. They will know people.
If you are not in the USA, start calling Physical Therapy schools. This is the quickest way.
The Phantom
If she still has the ability to speak (or even hum) at ANY volume, a simple circuit + an off-the-shelf throat mic could be used.
She then just humms/sings the same note three times in series and does nothing for a few seconds, and the circuit triggers. Like hitting +++ on hays-compatible modems.
If your friend can move her hand about an inch you could rig up some sort of a light gate which when closed would sound a buzzer/alarm whatever. Could mount it on her armrest and all she would need to do would be to break the beam to set it off. A simple IR LED and IR detector would do the trick (IR is nice to avoid ambient light interference). Main thing would be to design a case for it where you could mount it easily. Radio Shack has all the parts you need..Check out the Forrest Mims books for circuit diagrams..Radio Shack has these books as well..
Good luck,
Lemonk
You are only popular on the Internet.
... but a while ago, they were selling games and sensors that allowed you to control things by thinking. I'd seen them in stores 3 or more years ago. The whole package was (relatively) cheap -- under $200 and seems to provide an ideal interface for someone who can't move.
Arn't there devices now that can track eye movements? Perhaps a special 'hot' area could be set up where she could look to trigger an alert?
I realize this is getting off-topic, but does your friend happen to know any possible causes of her ALS? (By this, I mean, is it possible it was hereditary - or is it pretty much a mystery?)
I just ask because I had an uncle that died of ALS, a number of years ago. His condition deteriorated very rapidly, unfortunately. He started off complaining of some numbing in his arms and legs. Before long, he was having trouble walking and struggled to drive. His work tried to offer some assistance, but it was only a matter of months before he couldn't even get out of bed - and finally, he simply stopped breathing.
There was no history of ALS or anything similar in his family. The only suspicious factor is that he worked as a chemist at DuPont. There's no telling what he might have come into contact with that could have triggered the condition....
If people are thinking of a general type of device then it's important to keep in mind that ALS will affect different parts of a person's body. This is especially true in the early stages as it can start with trouble in the arms or legs. Quite often an ALS patient will have breathing and/or swallowing trouble by the time a remote monitor is needed. Breathing tubes are effective but won't work at night when a patient is trying to sleep. ALS patients don't get a full night's sleep and are usually tired and run down throught the day, especially if their breathing is degraded. Voice or noise activated devices usually won't help because the act of talking is tiring and patients often slur or can't clearly enunciate their words. Some sort of biofeedback device might work but bear in mind that patients in advanced stages may have oxygen lines and a small host of other aids for things like their phone so there will be an adjustment period involved in the introduction of any new device.
There were many ideas posted so far but this one wasn't mentioned yet...a bedwetting alarm. Granted, bladder control would be required. I looked around on the internet and have found a
device for about $70 (without even really trying). Sounds alarm upon the first few drops. Just make sure you have a glass of water before bed.
I have solved a problem like this, but not so difficult. My handicapped friend is able to use voice...
Two problems areas. The buzzer - easy. The switch - very hard to get right for actual use.
For the buzzer, we used a piezo type available from Radio Shack. I imagine the part numbers have changed by now, but there are probably several that will work. Others have suggested using a 9 volt battery - I wouldn't recommend this, you have to replace them, and it's extra stress trying to be sure they will work when you want them to. Instead, I would suggest a simple wall wart type transformer, and wire the buzzer directly to it (the ones we made are wall warts with the piezo taped to the back of it). This works reliably and nearly permanently. (this is my experience, but I am NOT an electrical engineer).
In my friends case, we were able to use voice recognition to send x-10 commands - so we just plug the above described buzzer/supply directly into a wall pluggable x-10 unit. Instant Star Trek - she speaks the command, and the buzzer sounds (for the prescribed time). I authored custom software to do this on the macintosh years ago - my friend is still using a 660av and OS7.6.5
In your case, the switch is a much bigger deal, and in spite of all the good suggestions, I suspect most slashdotters don't have experience in the real world with this type of thing.
The one good thing is that in this case, false alarms are dramatically better than no alarm, so we have some leeway in the design at the cost of the husbands sleep.
You didn't mention if the hand movement she has is also very difficult or tiresome (sorry I don't know more about ALS) - this determines whether repetitive hand motions can be part of the solution. I'm going to assume that repetition is out.
Under extreme cost pressure, you probably won't be able to do better than a manufactured switch of some type. There are vast numbers of switch types available - you need to find local electronics folks to help you evaluate what might work. Evaluate simple mechanical switches, capacitance based ones - just work through them getting ideas.
If she does not currently use any splints to maintain arm or hand position, you might consider making one to assist with the switch solution. The malleable plastic material that splints are often made of is cool stuff, and it should be available to you. Check with local physical therapists.
I will try to follow up with email to get more information and see if I can be of better help than this message. Unfortunatly, I'm burning sleep time writing this, and I know it will be several days before I can do this. With a little insane luck, perhaps you'll manufacture a huge budget in that time, so I get to help you figure out a solution using expensive yet fun toys.
The real, best solution, though, is the one that works in your circumstance. Best of possible luck in your search for it.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Since her movement abilities are gradually being restricted to her eyes, it would be very logical to design something around the most mobile part of her body. My suggestion would be a motion detecting mechanism that responds to sudden repeated movements of the eyes, such as three rapid blinks, etc. As her ability to move any other body part is gradually lost, so will be her ability to use any device designed specifically for that region.
David
First, a couple of assumptions...
1. She sleeps, therefore, motion sensors, retinal scanners, etc are out...REM sleep would set them off, and head attitude would make it very tricky to make it reliable.
2. She sleeps, therefore, working off hand movement, you would like it to be fairly descriminating...too many false alarms, too sensitive, etc, and you have "The little boy who cried wolf". a Few nights of being awakened 40 times and the hubby will be sleeping right through it.
So...
How about this as an idea to build upon...
Get a small cheap watch with an alarm, preferably load beeper and annoying. Take out the guts, saving the battery and speaker/buzzer/beeper.
Run two wires from a hole in the case to a finger. on the finger, velcro a mercury switch which you've attached the two leads to.
These two wires then attached to a couple of cheap IC's. The first, a counter and timer, set up such that it requires 3+ "movements" within 30 seconds to latch an output voltage.
The second IC works as a switch. Wire the output to the beeper (prolly will require a driver circuit to make it beep if it is only a simple speaker type). On the output as well, wire a feedback line to the input of your switch IC, through a normally closed momentary contact button mounted on the case (like in place of one of the buttons formerly occupied by the watch buttons). This way, once triggered by your movement, the beeper wil continue to sound after the timer/detector circuit resets, until such time as the hubby presses the momentary contact button to cut off your feedback line.
The IC's and etc could be picked up at radio shack, and the circuits I first built when I was about 9 or 10 in one of those learning electronics experiment kits RS used to sell.
If you're interested in this, drop me a line and we'll see what we can come up with for details.
There's prolly something better than a mercury switch for motion detection, but its late and I'm headed to bed.
I had a very good friend die from ALS last year. It is a sod of a disease and unpredictable re the rate it causes deterioration. But it is nearly always catastrophically fast, normally around 2 to 5 years from diagnosis to mortality.
It is possible that in a matter of mere days this sufferer may find herself with no ability to conciously control any digit or limb. Soon after she will not reliably be able to control her breathing, or swallowing. She is certainly already wracked with uncontrolled spasms and cramps which are likely to interfere with any traditional bio feedback device that depends on any kind of user control. Sadly, at the end she will not even be able to control blinking, or where she looks.
I wish I could help with this problem, but it is way outside my expertise. A simple, cheap, and reliable method to call for help would remove some of the terror from the lives of ALS/MS/MND/MD sufferers. And ALS victums do live in constant terror. It would also reduce the stress on their carer(s) and families.
I hope this gives you a better appreciation of the problem. Please, keep hacking at it 'til it gives.
I think I've depressed myself enough for one sitting.
Regards
Ratsarse
******
This is a special circumstance, one that won't be fixed by radio shack. But there is technology available that emits low level infrared light to detect eye motion and blinking. I can almost guarantee there is a device specifically for this purpose; detecting and translating specific eye movements to set pre-programmed phrases. This can be a voice, typed words, whatever. These tools are valuble not only on a safety level but can be psycologically comforting by increasing the persons ability to communicate. Now, I can't say this is cheap, but there are options available for people in dire situations. With some research, you should be able to figure something out that will help even if the degenration reaches her finger and hand movement.
******
There's a small proublem with this idea, when in a deep sleep(non-rem) all you muscles tense, thus setting off the alarm. And as I read this question the alarm id for while she is sleeping and awakes with a proublem.
-Ben
(Yes I know my spelling is poor but it's 2 am and I've been up more than 36 hours)
---PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE---
"Now, where's the damn 'any' key?"
Microswitches are very sensitive to small movement and take little force. I was thinking either something that could be worn on the wrist/hand to pick up the small movement, or something the hand rests in. Comfort may be a problem though.
A product I once saw advertised was a posture alarm. It was something worn which somehow (two layers of material over eachother with elastic at opposite ends perhaps?) arranged contacts to move over eachother or apart when stretched. A glove made this way could perhaps work, but effort would be needed on tuning sensitivity. It could be more comfortable than a microswitch.
[Attempt at ASCII art in slashdot failed, emailed instead].
You'd perhaps want it to be a normally closed contact which she breaks when she moves, rather than hoping it would make contact. Contact material could be something like aluminium foil (check durability).
- Richard
(I was going to email this to the original poster, but I realized there may be other people reading these replies who may need this information, if they, or a loved one, are facing ALS or other serious neuromuscular diseases.)
Can't help with the husband-signaling device, but here's something everyone affected by this disease should know. The common perception is that ALS is a fatal disease; it is not. As long as the person with ALS has proper ventilatory support, they can live comfortably for decades. (Who knows, maybe they'll find a cure in that time.) For more information, please check out http://www.DoctorBach.com, specifically http://www.DoctorBach.com/als.htm.
The bbc has a story about a Robot hand for the disabled. Doesn't look like it's available yet, and it'll probably cost $BIGNUM, though.
I see many great and innovative ways for switching a circuit. But the subject of waking her husband up in a cheap way I haven't seen.
If I absolutely needed to be sure that he would wake I would wire his bed/toe to some electrical wire that when activated gives short bursts of 110/220v, that should wake him up!
What's her prognosis look like? Is it going to be worth investing in a system based on hand motion if within a year she'll be down to even less function? The best/most sustainable solution depends on the least necessary assumption as to her future condition.
Please consider that her condition only will move toward less and less capability. Consider doing a little discreet inquiry into what motor functions typically last the longest. Whatever those are, that is what we all should design to.
c fm) Be sure to look through these resources. Here's an example of one of the switch pages that would be just what you would be looking for if switches was the path you decided to take. (http://www.communicationaids.com/switches.htm)
It is not in her best interest to put together a rube goldberg device that may have to be changed again in 6 months. Better to develop something that will provide the emotional security and husband-alerting functionality (I hate that IBM word) to as close to the end as possible.
I did a little reading and looking around. I found that breathing will eventually be a problem and a ventilator may be out there in the future, so I wouldn't build anything depending on breath control. From what I can tell eye movement may be the way to go unless the control of her hand would be with her for a couple of years.
I found this mouse for a computer. It is sip and puff switched if you think control of respiration will be with her for some years. It is $540.00. So, it isn't really the Radio Shack cheapie that you spoke of. (http://www.quadjoy.com/) I have no connection with that product or company.
If you must do the Rube thing, I suggest the microswitches that have been spoken of. A little modest wire and bell setup should do her fine for the time being. Microswitches that take the slightest touch up to a pretty good bump are available. They could be setup to turn on lights or crank up a siren.
Here is another link to resources (non-Rube)(http://www.alsa.org/resources/product.
Once again, I would suggest designing to the function that will be with her the longest. She won't face another learning curve. She won't be reminded of her deterioration by having to change to another communication system. The longer timeframe should allow for additional investment as it will serve for a longer time and thus be less expensive over the long haul.
Good luck to you and your friend with this little project.
Couldn't see it mentioned in existing posts but
there is a monitor available in most babycare
shops in the UK where you put a pad under the
baby and if they stop breathing an alarm goes off.
So - she holds her breath = alarm goes off.
HTH
3V of battery power
piezo tweeter
two wires
strip the ends of the wires, put one on her index finger and one on her thumb (and the other ends of the wires onto the battery). all she needs do is close the gap between her two finges and the wires will contant. voila, bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
i was thinking you could get cunning and try some form of variable resistance and have different actions based on that. so the higher she slid her thumb up her index finger - she would achieve a different result.
this is assuming she has that level of movement in her hand.
I think the two best ideas, considering ease of construction and materials cost would be either a system involving interrupting an electric eye or laser beam or using the technology that touch lamps use (which I believe works when the lamp is touched, a capacitor is discharged that signals to turn on the lamp). Both of these would be fairly cheap but do require some basic electronics knowledge. Hope that helps.
Can she control her mouth? If you take a small baby's chew toy and cut it open, insert a small pressure switch and clip it to her pillow, she could chomp down on it and set off an alarm. One of those cheap personal alarms (you know the kind that screams a few db's from a AAA battery) could be hacked to wire the switch to the one in the chew toy., wrap the wires in heat shrink tubing and put the alarm in the husband's pillow. you may want to muffle the pizoelectric speaker since they are very loud, he could suffer hearing loss.
Hope you're not trying to electrocute her.
Give her a whistle. She breathes out her nose when she doesn't need help and breathes out her mouth (thereby blowing the whistle) when she does. She can even learn morse code and communicate effectively.
The whistle might need to be customized so she doesn't swallow it or drop it. Just sustitute a ball gag with the whistle and she's in business.
This may sound like joke but I'm completely serious. If she couldn't breathe she'd be gone by now so it is probably still the best way to communicate.
So, she is experiencing not only palsy from the degeneration of the 2. Motoneurons but also spastic contractions (degeneration of the 1. Motoneuron). I think that a device that measures electrical muscle activity would at least have a lot of false positives.
Quintessence: She should try it out before buying it.
ALS is fatal in almost all instances. Mr Hawking is one of the very rare cases of ALS where the disease has plateaued. How comfortable would you be with a vent down your throat, unable to move yourself, having someone else wash and bathe you, etc and let's not forget the periodic bouts of pnumonia. ALS is by no means "comfortable"
WANTED: Good sig, funny, concise yet somewhat esoteric.
Get a chest strap (maybe sewn into her night cloths - check with someone else regarding the best stitching to use, as that's really not my field!). Assuming She can control her breathing, a deep enough breath could break a contact as the strap expands. Use this broken contact to unleash the "Dogs of Hell" (suitable substitues for the "Dogs of Hell" would include, but should not be limited too, lights, bells, buzzers, etc).
Those pesky birthday cards that play tunes must have a switch in them that takes little force to operate? Perhaps use such a switch as the "DoH" GateKeeper in some clever "\."y way?
Eclectic beats from Leeds, UK
handmadehands.co.uk
Buy a second hand trumpet and stick it up her arse! When she dies - as we all will at some point - the gases from her stomach will be expelled thus making a noise on the trumpet!
With a little practice, she may be able to play "the last post"!
Does she have enough control of her hands to "play" a theremin? Really though, all that would be important would be the position sensing aspects of the instrument.
--- Jason Olshefsky
Karma: Poser (mostly affected by adding this line long after everyone else did)
Put the microphone under any movable part. Try tapping or rubbing a microphone and hear the result. Put the speaker output near the person who has to be alarmed
Sorry for delving into Old-Tech, but... All you really need to do is use a lever... Simply, hook up a doorbell (the kind that the button part sticks out a bit from the rest of the contraption). Put a doorbell on the bedstand with the button facing up, duct tape a yardstick or some other lever down to the table next to the doorbell, so that it rests on the button. Any infitesmal force applied to the long end of the lever will ring the doorbell. Good luck, -Geoff Give me a large enough lever and I can move the world! ---Archimedes (Also invented some "Screw")
Check out TrailRegistry.com, my hiking site, Maps, altitude pr
He said rectum.
A cheap battery operated door bell will be battery operated. If its one of the cheap RF operated ones, the puhsbutton can be replaced by just about any two bits of metal that can be forced to touch each other. All it takes is two strips of metal and if its done right it will take less energy than some of the touch swtiches need.
Try sci.electronics,
where you may find people who have electronics skill, rather than typing skills
How about... A WHISTLE?
They're REALLY CHEAP, they can be REALLY LOUD, and they DON'T REQUIRE BATTERIES. Radio shack doesn't sell them, but wal-mart does and they come in lots of variations.
I think everyone that is looking at the state of the art is taking the wrong approach. Doesn't anyone have friends with kids that like loud toys?
Look at the number of cheap plastic pieces of junk that they can entertain themselves with.
A noise-maker (ala the "my kid just turned 6" birthday party) with a wire to position it close to the face.
Of course if one MUST absolutely employ something that makes use of ELECTRICITY, I might also propose a BITE switch inserted into the mouth between the teeth. Bite down and close the circuit! It wouldn't be very hard to make one of those because the voltage involved could be minimal (5v to activate a relay coil for switching). Radio shack sells those spdt switches like (cat #275-016) that could probably be modified (by placing it in a plastic/non-toxic bag or pouch) to be used in the mouth.
A tilt switch on the fingers might also be sensitive enough to operate within the 1 inch of movement that your friend is restricted to.
Personally, I like the WHISTLE idea.
Good luck to you and your friend.
A friend of mine set up a web site to map ALS incidence in the US. The website is called M-PALS, Mapping People with A.L.S.
Such a nasty disease. My family watched my uncle die of it over the last two years. Damn air force bases!
The capacitive switch technology is a very good
one; we've used that here in the lab a lot.
You can make it with a PIC microcontroller in
about five minutes if you have a dev kit; you
can probably make it with one of the Basic
Stamp devo kits (available at Active Electronics
storefronts, including the one here in Cambridge,
which are PIC microcontrollers with a Basic
language preloaded and some I/O pins). Use
a Sonalert or the equivalent to alert the
caregiver that something's up.
But that will only stave off the inevitable for
a few more weeks or months... past that, and
you've got to use Shannon's Law to let her get
information out- multiple samples over a long
time, cross correllated to yield a single
error-free bit even in the presence of
overwhelming noise.
Does she have tremors? Or is it simple and total
paralysis? Myoelectric eye blink detection
("blink three times at the ceiling if you want
me") may be her last hope.
I am sorry for her.
Suggest you retrofit a touch lamp -- in place of the bulb -- use a small beeper screwed into the socket.. The neutral ground could be extended very close to her via a wire... Best of luck.
What about one of those battery operated motion detector alarms ( can be found at Kmart/Wal-Mart in the security section ) . You can set the range and sensitivity ( and sound ). So if she need she could just move a little in the path of the sensor. Cheap idea with out having to build a complete device.
If she has breath control why not simply use a whistle?
a KISS solution would be to tape a wire with small metal plates to thumb and that finger next to it. then simply hook them to be a switch for some beeper.
We use a system at the hostpital I work at that plugs into a standard nurse call light. It's an air line with a bladder on the end the patient can press with their head by leaning, or by hand. The change in air pressure triggers the call light. They're pretty sensitive and don't take much pressure to trigger.
How about using one of those touch lamps that turn on when you just touch the base? Instead of putting in a light bulb, just put in one of those adapters that give you receptacles in a light socket, and plug it into a nice loud alarm bell. Mount the bell on the wall above the head of the bed on the husbands side, and that should wake him up fine.
Some doctors suspect that Mr Hawking may not even have ALS and may actually have a different but similar disease that works more slowly. But they don't know how to check this.
At least that's what I saw in a program about him.
--- I used to moderate, then I read the -1 articles and decided having to filter through them was not worth it.
In another six weeks or (probably) less, the Halloween aisles of your local Wal-Mart, Target, etc. (if you're in the USA) will be filled with inexpensive gizmos that make noise after being triggered by some kind of human contact or proximity. If you haven't settled on your ideal solution by then, take her to the store and see what she's able to trigger; there'll be lots of choices.
Can she control her breathing?
If so, some sort of a whistle pressed into the nostril, perhaps fitted with a silicon mold (places that do custom ear plugs or hearing aids could probably do this) would seem cheap and natural. Then she only need blow to rouse her husband.
Says the RIAA: When you EQ, you're stealing bass!
Where do you live? Can you still buy a Commodore 64 at the mall there? Weirdo.
TFH USA
These vary from 30 to 300 USD each. The bead curtain or the oressure plate would work fine when combined with a buzzer and a power supply.
I was thinking that you could break open a mouse (mechanical, not optical) and connect the y-axis to a series of small gears to a tiny fan blade (from a discarded laptop perhaps) the diameter of which being about the size of an US Quarter-dollar coin. Mount the fan into a near-size pvc tube. you'll just need the blades, becuase it a basic rotor, so that when she inhales, it turns the gears, moving the cursor UP, and when she exhales, it moves the cursor down...
mount the assembly on a telescopic-boom (like a $20 microphone stand)
If you felt so inclined, you could mount a second pipe for the other axis and increase your options...
set up a simple pc that runs a dedicated macromedia flash file, and now when the cursor moves you can communicate basic wants/needs that are setup as onmouseover routines...
inhaling makes the cursor move up. exhaling makes the cursor move down.
also depending on her skill with the device you could set up chorded strings of commands... like
I Want...(y-axis) Water...(x-axis)
perhaps you could come up with some time-out function that would automatically re-center the cursor so that she doesn't frustrate herself with all the blowing...
this does depend on her ability to control her breathing, however.. you may want to try two commands first, like "water" or "bathroom" then you could advance to "good morning" or "I love you"...
Whatta buncha geeks.
s html
u .html
...'. [sniff!] This brings tears to the eyes of us baseball fans.
Lou Gehrig, "The Iron Horse", was the greatest first baseman ever, and I don't say something like that about a Yankee unless it's pretty much indisputable. He played with Babe Ruth (you may have heard of him) on the New York Yankees in the 1920s and 30s, winning an amazing 8 championships.
Gehrig was probably one of the top 3-5 hitters in history. He also held the record, until Baltimore shortstop Cal Ripkin broke it recently, of playing 2130 straight games without a breather. Nobody else even comes close to those two. When was the last time you missed a day of work? You can see his stats here:
http://baseball-reference.com/g/gehrilo01.
A longer, more comprehensive bio:
http://www.historicbaseball.com/p_gehrig_lo
On the day he announced he had ALS, he famously stood at a microphone on the Yankee stadium infield and announced to the crowd, 'Today, I'm the luckiest man on the face of the earth
Another place to go for help would be Volunteers for Medical Engineering. They do a lot of terrific stuff - My business partner has been involved in a number of their projects, such as a mouth/breath-controlled IR keyboard built for a quadrapalegic.
"One empirical experiment is worth a thousand expert opinions." --Bill Nye, the Science Guy
Dear Sir:
Having read your slashdot post about your friend's problem, namely only being able to move her hands approx. one inch in any direction and not being able to push a button to activate an alarm when she needs help, something occurred to me. Radio shack makes photosensitive diodes which act like a switch and engage when light hits them. So, what about creating a sort of mini-light beam device, like the one used to sound a buzzer when people enter a store? Simply create a two-pronged assembly with a light emitting diode on one side and the photosensitive element on the other. During normal operation, her hand blocks the light. With a half inch movement of her hand, she allows the light to hit the photosensitive element and an alarm is sounded. This device could be strapped to her wrist like a watch and extend along her hand, with the diode and light source placed across the meaty part of her hand (the opposite side from the thumb). Moving her hand out of the way engages the alarm.
What do you think? I'm a programmer, not an engineer, but this is how I would go about it.
Note: You could use anything as the "spine" of the device, even a pair of strong bamboo chopsticks. My drawing (it was in the email, but not this post) is very crude because I was limited to ASCII art (no scanner) but it's just meant to show the basic idea; the actual device could be very light and graceful. If it were me, I'd probably glue a normal wristwatch band into a small, carved wooden block with epoxy. Then I'd put a rubber pad on the back so it wouldn't irritate her wrist. Then, I'd drill two holes in the block and put two of the aforementioned chopsticks (because of their strength, but you could also use light wooden dowels, or carbon fiber rods made for use with kites -- available in hobby shops) in the holes, so that they would line up with her hand correctly. On the end of each rod, I'd glue a smaller wooden block on which I'd mount the actual light or light detector. Then I'd run the wires back along the rods to the main assembly and hook up a wire going to the alarm itself (this I'd put on a nightstand, because if she was wearing the alarm itself, it could be covered with a sheet or blanket and get muffled). The alarm itself would be whatever type of "personal security device" radio shack had which worked electrically, you know, like the little electronic screaming things women can carry in case they're mugged? You could rip the switch out of it and wire in the device in the switch's place.
Theoretically, you could put together a system that would be loud enough to wake anyone. Even from the other side of a house. You just have to look around to see what kind of noisemakers are available, which use an electrical switch. Be careful of voltages, though. You don't want to burn out the light detector with too much voltage. If worse comes to worst, look into relays -- this way, the light detector just engages a relay and the higher voltage flows through that instead of the detector.
How is this? Let me know if you get it built.
Cordially,
Philip
Check out the twitch switch and other assistive technology aids that TelSol makes.
Other related links are here.
If they have a computer already, this could be a cheap answer
you would need a cheap webcam (less than $35) - this can work on a computer running Win98 or better... prolly need atleast 35 MB Ram
There is a program I've seen called Homewatcher... I found it at download.com it ... using a webcam monitors motion in a room and can sound an alarm... it is intended to be used as a burgler alarm. It watches the video stream and notices changes from one frame to the next and it's sensitivity can be adjusted. It has a free version too that's good enough for what i propose. -The version you payfor allows it to e-mail you pictures of the burglers which isn't needed for this application
Aim the webcam at the eye... if close enough or with zoom lenses applied, it can easily detect the motion of a blinking or moving eye.
Now... here's where it gets good. Many webcams have a little more sensitivity in the near-infrared and infrared portions of the spectrum than the human eye... you may notice this when you adjust it to deal with flurescent or incandescent lighting... depending on the camera of course. You could illuminate the eye with IR (or red) LED's making it bright enough for the camera to detect eye movements / blinking
The software is just configurable enough that you might make this work with a minimal amount of fuss. The only problem may be is that it detects motion, any motion -it may be too sensitive.
See the Pictures of the Flood of '08
She wouldn't have to move a significant amount to generate a signal.
Go to the local Sports Authority (or whatever sporting goods store is near you), and buy an airhorn. Then, whenever she needs something, she just moves her hand over and hits the button. Not only will her husband wake up, but everyone else in the surrounding houses as well.
You fucking moron
While in college a group of us went up to stay in San Francisco for a weekend. We got rooms that the Hilton Towers. While stepping out of the elevator I said, "Hey, anyone see The Simpsons last week were Bart does this?" and ran my fingers along the buttons. Now I didn't actually press the buttons as Bart did, but to my horror, all the buttons lit up as my fingers ran along them. We were able to hear quite a few angry comments out of the elevator before the doors closed. Later we went back and tested the buttons. The slightest touch would activate them and even if you tried to press them in they wouldn't move.
Lasers Controlled Games!
I thought Stephen Hawking's ailment was a massive chip on his shoulder, oh you mean his lesser aliment. Sorry it just gripes me how Hawkings can milk his condition & bad attitude so that the ignorant (read media), hail him as the greatest living physicist whilst far greater minds are never even heard of.
in my life God comes first.... but Linux is pretty high after that
Francis Smit
Atleast for now... A $10 clearance sale radioshack motion sensor / door chime did the trick. We mounted it 6 inches from her hand, and sure enough all she had to do was wiggle her hand a bit to trigger a gratingly loud "DINGDONG!!". Several posts / emails pointed out this slick little device, and it sure did work like a charm. After playing with it for a half hour she gave me a giant smile and letterboarded me a heartfelt "thank you". Im sharing it with all of you. So slashdot submission thing was a pretty overkill, but I dont regret it. Ive gotten e-mail from engineers, physicians, EE students, EE proffessors, tinkerers, disabled tech researchers, and most amazing of all, ALS patients. There seemed to be a general consensus; While quick simple cheap fix could be scrounged together for the time being, a clinical solution for the long term was her best bet. I was pointed off in lots of interesting directions. There is a whole plethora of equipment and research to assist disabled in communication. Here are some interesting / useful links I was given. Research: http://archimedes.stanford.edu/ - a Stanford research team that: "work to improve interaction with computers and information and control of their environment for people with disabilities, the elderly, people with limited literacy, and people who use computers and information appliances." http://www.catea.org/ - a Georgia Institute of Technology research team that focus on "Development, evaluation, and utilization of assistive technology " and "Design and development of accessible environments" http://www.wata.org/ - Washington Assistive Technology Alliance Companies: http://www.toby-churchill.com/ - a company that makes portable text base communication aides http://www.enablingdevices.com/ - "Enabling Devices is dedicated to providing affordable learning and assistive devices for the physically challenged." http://www.qualilife.com - "QualiLife is a Swiss company specialized in the development and distribution of state-of-the-art technologies with the purpose of improving the quality of life of people." http://www.qedltd.com/ - "Innovative Products for People with Special Needs" http://www.eyecan.ca/ - a company that makes very slick eye tracking computer interfaces While im sure my friend has been over information like this with her physicians, I will be sure to relay everything Ive recieved to her. At the very least she will take comfort in the outreach of the slashdot community, and perhaps some day she will be able to thank you herself. Thanks again for all your help. If you have any further questions feel free to email me, and I will get back to you as soon as I can. -Zack : http://www.darktide.nu/nwa/zack P.S. im still sending individual replies to people who had specific inquiries, im slow - i know
Atleast for now... A $10 clearance sale radioshack motion sensor / door chime did the trick. We mounted it 6 inches from her hand, and sure enough all she had to do was wiggle her hand a bit to trigger a gratingly loud "DINGDONG!!". Several posts / emails pointed out this slick little device, and it sure did work like a charm. After playing with it for a half hour she gave me a giant smile and letterboarded me a heartfelt "thank you". Im sharing it with all of you.
So slashdot submission thing was a pretty overkill, but I dont regret it. Ive gotten e-mail from engineers, physicians, EE students, EE proffessors, tinkerers, disabled tech researchers, and most amazing of all, ALS patients.
There seemed to be a general consensus; While quick simple cheap fix could be scrounged together for the time being, a clinical solution for the long term was her best bet. I was pointed off in lots of interesting directions. There is a whole plethora of equipment and research to assist disabled in communication. Here are some interesting / useful links I was given.
Research:
http://archimedes.stanford.edu/ - a Stanford research team that: "work to improve interaction with computers and information and control of their environment for people with disabilities, the elderly, people with limited literacy, and people who use computers and information appliances."
http://www.catea.org/ - a Georgia Institute of Technology research team that focus on "Development, evaluation, and utilization of assistive technology " and "Design and development of accessible environments"
http://www.wata.org/ - Washington Assistive Technology Alliance
Companies:
http://www.toby-churchill.com/ - a company that makes portable text base communication aides
http://www.enablingdevices.com/ - "Enabling Devices is dedicated to providing affordable learning and assistive devices for the physically challenged."
http://www.qualilife.com - "QualiLife is a Swiss company specialized in the development and distribution of state-of-the-art technologies with the purpose of improving the quality of life of people."
http://www.qedltd.com/ - "Innovative Products for People with Special Needs"
http://www.eyecan.ca/ - a company that makes very slick eye tracking computer interfaces
While im sure my friend has been over information like this with her physicians, I will be sure to relay everything Ive recieved to her. At the very least she will take comfort in the outreach of the slashdot community, and perhaps some day she will be able to thank you herself.
Thanks again for all your help. If you have any further questions feel free to email me, and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
-Zack : http://www.darktide.nu/nwa/zack
P.S. im still sending individual replies to people who had specific inquiries, im slow - i know
rectum? damn near killed em!