Hands-Free Assistive Reading Technology for Persons with Disabilities

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project seeks to develop an automatic page turner as an assistive technology to promote independence in reading for individuals with disabilities. The device will be capable of turning the pages of a book in a forward or a reverse direction for hands-free operation. Activated with a wireless hand/foot pedal, sip-and-puff switch, chin switch, or voice activation system, the device will offer benefits to a potentially large market of diverse users, including people with disabilities, musicians, and avid readers. Our goal is to advance a novel design that is superior in several respects, including reliability, portability, ease of use, and cost. Our preliminary results with six prototype models demonstrate an improved technology that addresses design flaws prevalent in existing products and patents. We propose a novel approach that uses a rubber-tipped arm that rotates about a universal joint to fetch the topmost page and push it across the book in one sweeping motion. The pickup arm must effectively vary the pressure along its trajectory as it swipes the topmost page. This is necessary to create a page curl which will lie upon the arm as it sweeps across the book to turn the page. The proposed design has the benefit of exposing adjustable settings for the interplay between the pressure of the pickup arm, its trajectory, and the location of an opposing force to create a distinct page curl across a wide variety of paper. This level of fine tuning is important and was lacking in our previous designs. It will permit us to determine optimal settings and enable the user to make the necessary adjustments to enhance performance over changing conditions for paper surface, book size, and page count. In Phase I, we will identify the friction, force, and trajectory parameters for the pickup arm to reliably turn one page at a time across a wide range of papers. We will build an experimental setup to quantify these forces and distances. Feasibility is achieved if we reach a success rate of 96% in turning one page at a time at a speed of one page per second. This rate is consistent with those claimed by competing products, even though their designs may be constrained to thin well-behaved books. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: An automatic page turner would be particularly beneficial to people with limited upper extremity function caused by neurological impairment, musculoskeletal problems, and generalized weakness. Included in this population, for example, are patients who have suffered cerebrovascular accidents, spinal cord injuries, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, and arthritic joint changes. The proposed device would serve to enhance their quality of life by improving their independence in this activity of daily living. Furthermore, successful penetration of large consumer markets consisting of musicians and avid readers will offer economies of scale that would significantly lower cost and facilitate pervasive use. This can enable the device to become convenient attachments to pianos, music stands, book stands, and exercise equipment, in addition to its role as an assistive technology in hospitals, nursing homes, and libraries.