Re: Fiber-Optic Wheelchair Control

[Guest guest]

The fiber-optic control system has worked out fantastically for me. I very much

like to be able to get around on my own and it was getting dangerous to drive

with the joystick. The fiber-optic system gave me back my independence. What

really made me realize that I had a problem was when one day, I somehow got my

hand jammed on the joystick and I was spinning around on the sidewalk, gradually

getting closer and closer to the curb. It was absolutely terrifying!

The fiber-optic system system is made by Adaptive Switch Laboratories (ASL) and

they are a completely autonomous subdivision of Invacare. Just this weekend I

saw the ASL team at the Abilities Expo in the NYC area. If anyone is near any

of the other Expos, I would highly recommend talking to them. I am fairly

certain that it can be installed on other chairs.

My system has three switches which are smaller than the eraser and of a pencil.

The switches are at the end of flexible glass tubes. For all intents and

purposes, they look like wires. The switches should be able to be mounted

anywhere. In my case I have them on the right side, just below the armrest. I

have the ability to contract muscles in, but not out, so I use gravity to pull

my fingers away from the switches.

As I mentioned, there are three switches. Two switches are used for driving,

and the third switch is used to change modes, i.e. forward, reverse, drive

select, tilt, ECU 1 or ECU 2. The two ECU slots allow me to control different

computers with the fiber-optic system.

So to explain a little bit how the system works, to drive forward, I press the

two drive switches simultaneously, and the chair goes forward. If I need to

reverse, I hit the third button until the wheelchair cycles through to the

reverse drive slot, and then I would get the same too drive switches. If I need

to turn I press either the left or right switch independently. The switches are

mounted quite close to one another, so I can press two buttons with one finger

or, alternatively, I can drive using two fingers, which gives me a little more

control. I use the middle and ring fingers. With those two digits, I can do

everything!

I know it may sound confusing, but I became completely comfortable with the

system in less than an hour of practice. The drawback is that the switches are

a little bit fragile so I have been very reluctant to take my chair on an

airplane. Another thing to be concerned about, and I discovered the hard way,

is if you get the additional piece to connect wirelessly to a computer, it is

sometimes easy to get mixed up as to which setting you are in. So, for example,

a few times I thought I was in one of the ECU modes, which allows me to move the

mouse, when in fact I was in the " drive forward " setting. To move the mouse up,

or down is the same finger placement for driving forward. After crashing into

my desk one too many times, I put a bunch of junk desk to create a barrier. Now

I just occasionally crash into the junk!

I hope I have not gone on too long. As you can probably tell, I think this is a

great system, that under the right circumstances, can really help people in the

SMA community. Please feel free to ask any questions, either here or directly.

T.K. Small

>

> Tk,

>

> I saw that you mentioned that you use a fiber-optic control for your

wheelchair. Can you tell us more about this? Sip-n-puff isn't a good option

for me, nor is a head control. It's getting to be that gimpy time for me. What

has your experience been?

>

> Thx!

> Alana

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks for explaining it so well. Fascinating!

Sent from my iPhone

On 25 May 2011, at 03:06, Small <thomas.small@...> wrote:

The fiber-optic control system has worked out fantastically for me. I very

much like to be able to get around on my own and it was getting dangerous to

drive with the joystick. The fiber-optic system gave me back my

independence. What really made me realize that I had a problem was when one

day, I somehow got my hand jammed on the joystick and I was spinning around

on the sidewalk, gradually getting closer and closer to the curb. It was

absolutely terrifying!

The fiber-optic system system is made by Adaptive Switch Laboratories (ASL)

and they are a completely autonomous subdivision of Invacare. Just this

weekend I saw the ASL team at the Abilities Expo in the NYC area. If anyone

is near any of the other Expos, I would highly recommend talking to them. I

am fairly certain that it can be installed on other chairs.

My system has three switches which are smaller than the eraser and of a

pencil. The switches are at the end of flexible glass tubes. For all intents

and purposes, they look like wires. The switches should be able to be

mounted anywhere. In my case I have them on the right side, just below the

armrest. I have the ability to contract muscles in, but not out, so I use

gravity to pull my fingers away from the switches.

As I mentioned, there are three switches. Two switches are used for driving,

and the third switch is used to change modes, i.e. forward, reverse, drive

select, tilt, ECU 1 or ECU 2. The two ECU slots allow me to control

different computers with the fiber-optic system.

So to explain a little bit how the system works, to drive forward, I press

the two drive switches simultaneously, and the chair goes forward. If I need

to reverse, I hit the third button until the wheelchair cycles through to

the reverse drive slot, and then I would get the same too drive switches. If

I need to turn I press either the left or right switch independently. The

switches are mounted quite close to one another, so I can press two buttons

with one finger or, alternatively, I can drive using two fingers, which

gives me a little more control. I use the middle and ring fingers. With

those two digits, I can do everything!

I know it may sound confusing, but I became completely comfortable with the

system in less than an hour of practice. The drawback is that the switches

are a little bit fragile so I have been very reluctant to take my chair on

an airplane. Another thing to be concerned about, and I discovered the hard

way, is if you get the additional piece to connect wirelessly to a computer,

it is sometimes easy to get mixed up as to which setting you are in. So, for

example, a few times I thought I was in one of the ECU modes, which allows

me to move the mouse, when in fact I was in the " drive forward " setting. To

move the mouse up, or down is the same finger placement for driving forward.

After crashing into my desk one too many times, I put a bunch of junk desk

to create a barrier. Now I just occasionally crash into the junk!

I hope I have not gone on too long. As you can probably tell, I think this

is a great system, that under the right circumstances, can really help

people in the SMA community. Please feel free to ask any questions, either

here or directly.

T.K. Small

>

> Tk,

>

> I saw that you mentioned that you use a fiber-optic control for your

wheelchair. Can you tell us more about this? Sip-n-puff isn't a good option

for me, nor is a head control. It's getting to be that gimpy time for me.

What has your experience been?

>

> Thx!

> Alana

>

[Guest guest]

If folks are interested, I just uploaded two photos of my fiber-optic system.

The pictures might help people to understand some of my earlier description

better.

T.K. Small

> >

> > Tk,

> >

> > I saw that you mentioned that you use a fiber-optic control for your

> wheelchair. Can you tell us more about this? Sip-n-puff isn't a good option

> for me, nor is a head control. It's getting to be that gimpy time for me.

> What has your experience been?

> >

> > Thx!

> > Alana

> >

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I just got a new wheelchair with the fiberoptic control and I'm still

learning it. It takes practice to get used to it, which I'm still doing.

explained it better than I can. They can place them anywhere you

have movement. In my case, I use tongue and lip movements. The rehab

where I went through wrote an article in their quarterly magazine (

http://nortonhealthcare.com/workfiles/PUB-4429GHAprMayJun2011.pdf page 6 & 7

) and did a video ( http://nortonhealthcare.com/body.cfm?id=2385

<http://nortonhealthcare.com/body.cfm?id=2385 & fr=true> & fr=true ), and will

do a follow up once I master it.

M. Rudolph

Louisville, Kentucky 40214

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[Guest guest]

Thank you for all the info, Tk!

> > >

> > > Tk,

> > >

> > > I saw that you mentioned that you use a fiber-optic control for your

> > wheelchair. Can you tell us more about this? Sip-n-puff isn't a good option

> > for me, nor is a head control. It's getting to be that gimpy time for me.

> > What has your experience been?

> > >

> > > Thx!

> > > Alana

> > >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >