Tag: Assistance

Newborns’ hearing can be tested using a smartphone. If a congenital heart defect is detected then a pacemaker is necessary. After around a week, the heart usually beats independently. To avoid surgical procedures, a US research team has built on an earlier project to develop a miniature pacemaker. Almost as small as a sesame seed, it can be injected...

Herbs and spices can aid memory and indigestion. Now, a blind female chef is aiming to make cooking safer for blind or vision-impaired people. In a series of accessible videos, she provides tips, cooks different recipes and introduces helpful tools. Like measuring spoons with tactile raised dots that make it easier to get quantities right. Or a ceramic coin...

Drinking water can be continuously filtered from brackish water. People whose kidneys no longer clean their blood must undergo dialysis every 2-3 days, a trying 4-6 hour process which also creates large amounts of fluid waste. A research team from South Korea is aiming to change this with its wearable device for peritoneal dialysis. Here, dialysis fluid is introduced...

The right outfit can help people relax. But comfort is also a must for those who wear prosthetic limbs. Enter a London-based startup which is aiming to ensure artificial and real body parts fit perfectly together. The team’s smart liner stems from a university project and is padded with an elastic silicone insert with embedded air chambers. The insert...

A digital pen can detect and translate Braille in real time. Now, a Swiss startup has developed smart glasses to help blind people or those with limited vision detect obstacles and move around safely. Two radar sensors in the frames, which run for six hours on a single charge, scan the area above chest-level. An algorithm then analyses the...

Light switches can be controlled remotely thanks to a ring, while some glasses correct blind spots in wearers’ field of vision. All these innovations mean increased integration for people with specific disabilities. And now a Romanian startup is looking specifically at website access. An app designed for businesses constantly monitors their websites for accessibility issues and makes recommendations -...

New wheelchairs can be controlled by head movements. Now, a Californian startup has developed a wearable ring to operate light switches, fans and air-conditioning units more easily. The ring uses infrared to communicate with an electric switch cover, placed over a rocker switch, at distances of up to 10m. Both ring and switch cover take an hour to charge. Low...

A headset with smart technology is helping blind people be more independent outside of their homes. Now a London-based product designer is focusing on providing simple support for the community inside with soft patterned surfaces. Her rectangular pads can be applied to walls as signs, with each pattern allowing users to feel different information on their surroundings. Thus straight...