Independent with Albatross
A gift for those with motor disabilities. Helping with communication, self-actualization, and improving quality of life.
Since she was seven months old, Mayang Yudhistea has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy. This disease, which inhibits motor development, disrupts some nerve function. Her muscles feel stiff, and even her tongue feels numb. Yudhis, as she's known, now lies paralyzed. Even speaking is difficult. "This is the result of an accident during pregnancy," said her mother, Theodora Pryanti, last week.
This mother and 18-year-old boy are undeterred. His mother, known as Hapi, taught Yudhis how to type text messages. It wasn't easy. He had to painstakingly press the small buttons on his cell phone using the protruding joints in his left hand—between his forearm and fingers—while clenching his fist.
Although it took a long time, Yudhis was happy to be able to express his feelings. Sometimes, poems and short stories emerged from his limitations. These short messages became Yudhis' medium of communication.
The story of Yudhis, a native of Yogyakarta, apparently reached the ears of researchers at the Bandung Institute of Technology. Yudhis's ability to painstakingly string together individual letters into words and sentences via text messages greatly inspired the team. Biomedical Engineering Expertise Group, School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, ITB.
"Technology must simplify human limitations," said the Head of the Biomedical Engineering Expertise Group. Profesor Tati Latifah Rajab Mengko. Not only communication via text messages, said Tati, access to computers and the Internet is considered to support Yudhis' daily productivity.
Yudhis is not the only person with a motor disability. Data from the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) in 2007 showed that the number of people with motor disabilities reached 2.5 million, equivalent to 37 percent of the total number of people with disabilities. Most suffer from congenital motor disabilities (present from birth) due to various inherited diseases, such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, and poliomyelitis.
At the end of 2009, was born Albatros or communication and computer access aids for people with motor disabilities. That same year, Albatros won an award as one of Indonesia's innovations in the communications and information technology category from the Ministry of Research and Technology.
According to the Head of Albatros Research, Dr. Adi Indrayanto, the obstacles faced by people with motor disabilities are largely due to the lack of appropriate support facilities. "People with motor disabilities have difficulty accessing technology," he said.
Albatros, said Adi, provides the possibility of carrying out various activities, such as text-based or symbol-based communication, social interaction through the formation of online communities, access to information and educational and professional content, as well as processing text, graphics, or images and sound.
In this way, people with motor disabilities can not only interact with their environment and others, but also have greater opportunities for economic independence with a wider range of career options. Computers and the Internet also provide a highly open platform for the development of additional functionality in the future.
Albatros is equipped with open-source technology that makes it easy for users to access information resources on their computers through browsers, instant messaging, and email. Adi said that all the data entry tools are tailored to the user's needs. But it's not that simple. Hardware and software development must be ongoing.
In Yudhis's case, for example, Albatros provides a special tool on the computer that replaces the keyboard and mouse. This special tool consists of five buttons: four navigation buttons and one execution button. The buttons in Albatros are used to search for and select letters or numbers displayed on the computer screen.
For computer and internet access, Albatros uses the Ubuntu operating system and the Gnome-based Linux distribution. The program allows developers to modify custom tools based on hand, body, facial, nose, or eye movements.
Adi gave an example: if a user can only move their eyes, the assistive device developed focuses on the eye's capabilities. For example, blinking can be used as a substitute for clicking, similar to a mouse. "Essentially, there are only navigation and execution buttons," he said.
The Albatros design was created to make things easier for people like Yudhis. In addition to a monitor, the Albatros is equipped with an assistive table that can be easily installed for those who must lie down. "It has to be comfortable, compact, and portable," he said. The Albatros design involved researchers from ITB Product Design. It took at least a year to build Yudhis' Albatros.
Yudhis has been using Albatros since late last year. At that time, Yudhis came directly to ITB to receive the Albatros as a gift from ITB researchers. "I got goosebumps seeing Yudhis so happy," said Tati.
Tati remembers Yudhis sitting in his wheelchair, accompanied by his parents and siblings. Although he couldn't communicate verbally, Tati captured his inner drive to always move forward. She hoped that one day, Yudhis would be able to become self-sufficient, relying on his literary talents.
Unfortunately, Yudhis's ability to adapt to Albatros still needs time. "We have to keep practicing," said Hapi. To date, Yudhis is not yet fluent in using the buttons available in Albatros to surf the Internet. "It takes time, Yudhis keeps trying," he said.
Adi explained that Albatros is suitable for people with motor disabilities from an early age. The reason is that the more accustomed someone is to using a particular device, the more their reflexes will be honed. For example, when a cell phone user types a short message without looking at the keys, they can type quickly and accurately. "The same is true with Albatros. The more accustomed they are, the easier it becomes," he said.
For school-age children with motor disabilities, Albatros provides access to a comprehensive education. Those with motor disabilities need not worry about developing skills that will be useful for their future livelihoods. Albatros's advantages include improvements in fostering independence, providing a means of self-actualization, and providing a platform for social interaction.
Researchers from ITB are continuing to develop Albatros to further refine it. In the future, this computer and internet access device will not only be for people with motor disabilities. It can also be used by people with normal mobility, making computer access easier and more efficient.
How does it work? Adi explained that ITB researchers are still developing computer and internet access via brain commands. "What the brain thinks can be directly executed as a command on the computer."
It works similarly to Yudhis' Albatros. The difference lies in the device being implanted into the human body. The device is placed around the head to capture the brain's electrical signals to transmit commands. "It's very complex," Adi said.
ITB is targeting the realization of the brain-controlled Albatros this year.
Sumber: Rudy Prasetyo, Bernada Rurit (Yogyakarta)
http://majalah.tempointeraktif.com/id/arsip/2010/03/29/TI/mbm.20100329.TI133091.id.html