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Tongue Drive System to Help Disabled (Image 3)
Cruise Bogle, center, poses with the Georgia Tech researchers who developed the Tongue Drive system, an assistive technology that enables individuals to maneuver a powered wheelchair or control a mouse cursor using simple tongue movements. Cruise sticks out his tongue to show the small magnet that allows him to perform these tasks. Cruise participated in clinical trials for the system, which took place at the Atlanta-based Shepherd Center.
The clinical trials showed that the Tongue Drive system, which was developed by engineers at Georgia Tech, was intuitive and simple for individuals with high-level spinal cord injuries to use. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation (grant IIS 08-03184) and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.
To learn more, see the GA Tech Research News story Tongue Power: Clinical Trial Shows Quadriplegic Individuals Can Operate Powered Wheelchairs and Computers with Tongue Drive System. (Date of Image: June 2009) [Image 3 of 3 related images. Back to Image 1.]
Credit: Georgia Tech; photo by Gary Meek
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