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A Humanitarian Engineering Problem

Posted by Cliff on from the someone-in-need dept.

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."

8 of 382 comments (clear)

  1. Lunix by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I am sure Lunix can solve this problem.

    1. Re:Lunix by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      I am sure Lunix can solve this problem.

      Maybe even Dean Kamen

  2. Re: A Humanitarian Engineering Problem by psi-kat · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    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)

  3. Simple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    Let Mother Nature do the work for her:

    Beans for dinner. Just toot the old anal horn (with bonus smell) to wake the hubby.

  4. Re: A Humanitarian Engineering Problem by Geekboy(Wizard) · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    You must live in Daly City. We'll cordinate on hunting that bastard down. =)

  5. ALS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    "A have a friend who has ALS (Stephen Hawking's ailment)...

    Umm...I thought ALS was Lou Gehrig's disease. I'm sure the average Slashdork would have no idea who he is, what with the fact that he is associated with sports. Jocks, as we all know, live to beat up the average Natalie Portman-worshipping, Star Trek-watching, pocket protector-wearing, Real Doll-purchasing Slashdot reader. But for God's sake, let's give Lou the respect of at least mentioning his name when discussing ALS, rather than a quack of a physicist like Hawking.

  6. Download brain into a computer. by treat · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    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.

  7. Re:two ideas by Sebastopol · · Score: 0, Offtopic


    How the fuck am I moderated as "redundant", I was the fourth post!!!

    LOL!

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