Can give hope to patients.
Parkinson’s is a particularly nasty neurological disorder; one of its most common symptoms is involuntary muscle movement, or tremors. At this year’s CES, a device was shown that could help mitigate such tremors for patients: the GyroGlove.
One test case attests to the glove’s remarkable aid. Roberta Wilson-Garrett has been suffering from Parkinson’s disease for the past six years. Which, in complete coincidence, is the exact same amount of time that Dr. Faii Ong has been developing the GyroGlove. They first met when Wilson-Garrett attended the World Parkinson’s Congress in Barcelona, Spain. GyroGear, the company that Dr. Ong founded to develop the glove, was showing off the latest version of the glove. Wilson-Garrettshied away from trying the glove at first, until the stress of the convention started to cause a tremor in her right hand. At thyat point, she decided to give the glove a try, and the rest is history.
As Dr. Ong explains, the glove is a fairly simple device. A large gyroscopic motor rests on the back of the glove, with an attached battery pack. There’s no complicated computing involved, or AI, either. It simply uses the gyroscopic effect; in essence, the gyroscope always wants to remain stable, and in doing so will counter the minor unconscious tremors of the wearer.
Wilson-Garrett demonstrated the efficacy of the glove by first attempting to draw a spiral without it. She put a pen through the first piece of paper, and was successful with the second, though she struggled and the spiral she drew was small and malformed. With the glove, however, she was not only able to easily grasp the pen, but was able to quickly draw a nearly perfect spiral. The glove apparently added a little bit of bumpiness to her line, but that’s a small price to pay for the amount of stabilization it provides. And the freedom it provides to users.
That said, the GyroGlove isn’t a cure; it’s more of a countermeasure to the symptoms of the disease. But having the freedom to prepare food, or perform any number of daily tasks without the aid of anyone else is an incredible boon to those with Parkinson’s; its value shouldn’t be underestimated.
And it is worth noting that the GyroGlove isn’t cheap. Each glove costs ~$5900. The UK-based GyroGear does ship worldwide, but can’t give a a firm price outside of the US.
Source: TechRadar
About Author
