Paralytic World Interface
Level - UndergradYou are presented with a patient “JR” who is completely paralyzed (with the exception of slight movement in his face) as the result of a stroke. The stroke/paralysis is the result of an arterial embolus and resulting damage to the corticospinal tract in the subject’s brainstem. These “locked-in” patients experience profound frustration because of their inability to control their interactions with the world. Your goal is to propose a design of a new device, which will give back to patients like JR some portion of the life that has been lost by augmenting their current capabilities. To do this, you will need to identify:
• the kind of augmentation you would like to achieve
• the kind of information that would be needed to support such augmentation
• the kind of biosignals that would provide that information
• the method for extracting the signals
• the issues in processing those signals and the potential solutions.
Because many of these patients have minimal financial resources at their disposal, keeping the cost of your device as low as possible should be one of the constraints imposed upon your design.
The presentation of your solution will take place during the final exam period for this course (ie Wednesday, December 11, 8-10:50am, Skiles Rm 268). The report must be turned in electronically no later than 5pm on Friday December 13. The report does not need to include a response to the critique received during the presentation.