Development of a Mouthpiece Type Remote Controller for Disabled Persons

Abstract

A variety of operation devices have been developed for severely disabled people such as those with cervical cord injuries and/or muscular dystrophies. Each device has its own merits and demerits respectively, but there is still a need to develop other types of operation devices. In this study, we have tried to develop a mouthpiece type remote controller to operate an electric powered wheelchair. This remote controller would be inserted into user's mouth and be operated by tongue. This remote controller has passive RFID transponders but no battery. To evaluate the performance of this system, the MCR (Maximum Communication Range) was measured. The results indicated that if users set the antenna beside their cheek, the remote controller would work well. For the preliminary study, the operativeness of this remote controller was suitable. With this system, we succeeded in an operating electric powered wheelchair on the market. These results suggested the possibility that this mouthpiece type remote controller system would be effective for severely disabled people.

Tongue interface based on surface EMG signals of suprahyoid muscles

“…4 Department of Intelligent Systems Engineering, Ichinoseki National College of Technology, Ichinoseki, Iwate, Japan. 5 Graduate School of Information Science, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Nara, Japan. 6 Department of Robotics Science and Engineering, Chubu University, Kasugai, Japan.…”

“…Numerous studies have examined control interfaces containing an artificial palate with buttons activated by the tongue tip [4][5][6]. In other solutions, a few pairs of light emitting diodes and photodiodes are mounted on an artificial palate to detect the tongue position [7,8].…”