A watch-like device replaces the swipe of a finger and the click of a computer mouse. People who are unable to use their hands can use a wristband to operate any phone, laptop, or tablet.
It converts the user’s movements into commands for any paired Bluetooth device, replacing the swipe of a finger on a touch screen, tap on a keyboard, and mouse click.
For the first time, users with cerebral palsy (CP) can digitally draw a picture with a flick of the wrist. Veterans who have been injured can type emails and text messages, play games, and crop photos.
The watch-style device grants them complete control over whatever device they’re using, allowing them to control every on-screen function.
Even if a person has tremors, the device will display a cursor that moves smoothly across the screen.
It can be worn on the wrist, upper arm, or upper leg – anywhere the user moves – and adapts to any type of movement after only 10 minutes of calibration.
Beyond everyday use, the $990 MyMove device is rehabilitating amputees with phantom pains and assisting people with disabilities in finding work.
The device’s maker, Tel Aviv-based 6Degrees, wants to give people with disabilities full access to technology.
“Our vision is to allow anyone to control smart devices or the digital world using their existing motion and their existing abilities,” says Miri Berger, CEO and Co-founder. MyMove collects data in real time and adapts to each user’s unique movements.
There are numerous accessible technologies available to people with disabilities. Many devices, such as those that track eye movements or respond to brain commands, cater to users who have no motion at all.
“We don’t ask you to install a device because all of the calibration is in the hardware,” Berger told. “That’s how we’re different – we do it in real time, and we do it in a way that is personalized to the user.”
Berger met her now-husband, Aryeh Katz (Co-Founder and CTO), shortly after he was injured while serving in the Israeli Defense Forces as a paratrooper. She noticed how people with injured limbs lacked independence during his physical rehabilitation.
She encountered the issue again during her studies at the Pratt Institute in New York, where her amputee teacher was unable to use his prosthetic hand with his computer when teaching computer modelling. “We wanted to help people who lost their fine motor skills regain their independence,” she said.
In 2017, the couple immigrated to Israel and founded 6Degrees. Last April, they began selling the MyMove globally.
The name of the company is derived from the physics term “six degrees of freedom,” which refers to the freedom of movement of a rigid body in three-dimensional space.
People with disabilities can get the device thanks to the Assistive Technology (AT) Act of the United States, which provides federal funding to each state to support them.
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