Three female students from the Applied Technology High School in Umm Al Quwain designed a computer mouse device that works with the movement of the tongue, intended for people who have lost limbs.
The project supervisor, Eng. Mustafa Abdel-Fattah, told Emirates Al-Youm that the project team, consisting of three female students, Nada Jaber, Shouq Al-Mulla and Mira Hassan, participated in the Emirates Young Scientist Competition, as part of the activities of the National Science, Technology and Innovation Festival, organized by the Ministry of Education. Education at Expo 2020 Dubai.
He added that the project, in general, is a “mouse” that operates with the tongue, and is intended for amputees, who are people who suffer from a serious injury to the spinal cord, and have limited ability to motor control their limbs or have lost their limbs in an accident or other.
Abdel Fattah added that the final design of the device includes a plastic retainer that fits the user’s upper teeth and contains many electronic components that can be controlled using the teeth and jaw muscles.
He stated that the device is connected to a base that includes the microcontroller that controls the movement of the device, and the base works as a docking station without using hands.
Abdel-Fattah explained how the device works, where the user can gently lift his tongue on the downward-facing joystick, and push in the required direction to control the computer mouse.
The pointer moves up, vertically, when the user pushes their tongue out, and then points down when the person pulls their tongue back toward the throat.
He added, “The user controls the cursor by left and right movements, and can bite on one side of the mouth to activate the right or left button switches.”
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