Invotek will build and evaluate a second generation prototype which provides constant feedback to students with attention problems. the system operates on the premise that giving a student points towards predefined on-task goals will modify his/her behavior. these points are accumulated on the… More

Invotek will develop a robotic arm for transferring hospital and nursing home patients. this device will not attempt to address every lifting situation. instead, invotek will concentrate on the most common lifting situations for the majority of patients. this focus will allow invotek to design a… More

Invotek will develop a light sensitive keyboard and a laser light source for accessing apple 2gs and macintosh computers. this keyboard system will incorporate a light detection scheme which will insure user eye safety. the system will allow people with severe physical disabilities to access an… More

Not Available The U.S. Army has a need for the development of new antenna materials technologies that will extend the band coverage and direction of arrival of communications, radar warning, and countermeasure antennas. This new materials technologies study should result in an extremely broad… More

DESCRIPTION: The purpose of this research is to provide persons who have physical impairment and unintelligible speech with an access method for assistive devices that (i) significantly reduces the physical fatigue experienced during device access and, (2)… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Commercial speech recognition software offers many people with physical limitations an important computer access method. While this access method is reasonably reliable for people with typical speech, people with motor speech disorders (dysarthria) are presently… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of this research is to determine the feasibility of a unique eye-tracking concept for controlling assistive devices. This access method may be exceptionally tolerant of head movement and can theoretically determine where the eye is targeted on a… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Commercial speech recognition software offers many people with physical limitations an important computer access method. While this access method is reasonably reliable for people with typical speech, people with motor speech disorders (dysarthria) are presently… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed project enables people with very limited movement to use a laser to control assistive devices - safely. This Phase 1 Fast-Track research focuses on developing a custom, low-cost, photosensitive material that detects the light from a laser. The… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed system offers people with severe disabilities an important new method for communicating when speaking is not possible. Presently all augmentative communication systems require a person to interact directly with that device in order to generate… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed project enables people with very limited movement to use a laser to control assistive devices - safely. This Phase 1 Fast-Track research focuses on developing a custom, low-cost, photosensitive material tha t detects the light from a laser. The… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed research may offer people who rely on assistive technology an exceptionally efficient method for entering words into computers and other assistive devices. We accomplish this by designing an on-screen keybo ard that uses gesture- enhanced word… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This feasibility project investigates whether people with complex communication needs can control the prosody of a text-to-speech synthesizer within a unique speech-aware word prediction program. The research team will design a second-generation speech… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is an urgent need for speech generating devices that meet the needs of young children with complex communication needs. The proposed project responds to this need by developing innovative software that will: (a) appeal to young children by integrating… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The access options for people with disabilities who rely on their hands to control an assistive device have not improved in many years. The proposed project creates a new input method for assistive devices in which the size, shape, and function of the access… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We will integrate head and eye movement into a new unified computer access method for people who have high spinal-cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries (TBI), brainstem strokes, and degenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): People with dementia lose their abilities to perform psychomotor tasks, such as activities of daily living, when they do not use them. This loss results in lowered self-esteem and a reduced sense of control over self and personal space. We propose to develop a… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is an urgent need for speech generating devices (SGDs) designed for young children with complex communication needs. Available SGDs are difficult for children to use and time consuming for adults to program. Without appropriate SGDs, children miss valuable… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Speech generating devices (SGDs) offer people with difficult to understand speech (dysarthria) a synthesized speech replacement for their natural speech. However, people who require SGDs often prefer using their natural speech because it is perceived as normal… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We develop an integrated writing method named GWP that seamlessly switches between typing, word prediction, and predictive gesturing. Predictive gesturing enables a person to enter text by moving the mouse cursor toward a few letters in a word without requiring… More