Wearable Technology: Have Shirt, Will Travel
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
November 20, 2006

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS--Researchers at Northwestern University are developing new wearable technology that could allow quadriplegics to maneuver power wheelchairs through their clothes.

The system, which is in the earliest stages of development, would use fabric embedded with minute sensors to be worn by people who might only be able move their head or a shoulder. As the wearer moved, the sensors would send signals to a computer that would then drive the wheelchair.

According to a recent story in Technology Review Magazine, the garment system would be individualized for those who favor one side of their head over another, for instance.

The scientists say that the garments could eventually be used to help people control devices other than wheelchairs, such as computer games.

Related:
"Driving a Wheelchair with Your Shirt" (Technology Review)
http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=17803&ch=biotech

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Reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion Daily Express international disability rights news service.
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