Tongue Controlled Wheelchair

The Tongue Drive System is a tongue operated Assistive Technology (AT) developed for people with severe disability to control their environment. Tongue Drive consists of an array of Hall Effect magnetic sensors mounted on a mouthpiece, to measure the magnetic field generated by a small permanent magnet placed on the tongue. The sensor signals are transmitted and processed to control the powered wheelchair. In past a lot of Assistive Technologies have been designed but each one of them had certain demerits. The tongue is connected to the brain by the cranial nerve, which generally escapes severe damage in spinal cord injuries. It is also the last to be affected in most neuro muscular disorders. The tongue can move very fast and accurately within the mouth cavity. It is thus a suitable organ for manipulating assistive devices. The tongue muscle is similar to the heart muscle in that it does not fatigue easily. Therefore, a tongue operated device has a very low rate perceived exertion. The tongue is considered most significant way for severely disabled people to operate an Assistive device. In this project presents an efficient, low cost solution to all the issues encountered in various ATs. The Tongue Drive System is a tongue operated Assistive Technology (AT) developed for people with severe disability to control their environment. Tongue Drive consists of an array of Hall Effect magnetic sensors mounted on a mouthpiece, to measure the magnetic field generated by a small permanent magnet placed on the tongue. The sensor signals are transmitted and processed to control the powered wheelchair. In past a lot of Assistive Technologies have been designed but each one of them had certain demerits. The tongue is connected to the brain by the cranial nerve, which generally escapes severe damage in spinal cord injuries. It is also the last to be affected in most neuro muscular disorders. The tongue can move very fast and accurately within the mouth cavity. It is thus a suitable organ for manipulating assistive devices. The tongue muscle is similar to the heart muscle in that it does not fatigue easily. Therefore, a tongue operated device has a very low rate perceived exertion. The tongue is considered most significant way for severely disabled people to operate an Assistive device. In this project presents an efficient, low cost solution to all the issues encountered in various ATs.