Roberta Wilson-Garrett looked at the glove while keeping her right hand steady and smiled.
Currently, there were tremors caused by Parkinson’s disease that affected her muscle control.
She can do things that others take for granted, like writing clearly with a pen or holding a cup of coffee without spilling it.
The reprieve shared by the Canadian woman at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas came thanks to the GyroGlove.
“It’s life-changing for me,” Wilson-Garrett said, describing how the GyroGlove stops the tremors that make seemingly simple tasks like getting dressed a challenge.
GyroGear has built the world’s most advanced hand stabilizer, with strategic partners including Chinese technology group Foxconn, according to founder Dr Faii Ong.
The GyroGlove is an attached gyroscope about the size of a hockey puck but with a disc inside that spins faster than a jet engine turbine, according to Ong.
“This glove is made in the same factory that makes your MacBook Pro,” Ong said, referring to Foxconn being a supplier to Silicon Valley star Apple.
The plan is to make the gyroscope smaller with future iterations of the glove.
“We want to take the focus away from the disease and back to the fact that this is human life we are talking about,” Ong said.
“This is what technology should do; it is more important that we focus back on ourselves as people and understand how we can make people’s lives better.”
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Dog guide tool
Massachusetts-based GyroGear was one of a group of companies at CES seeking to use technology to improve the lives of people with impairments or disabilities.
Startups like Glidance and powerhouses like Amazon were among the companies crowded into a section of hotel and casino display technology in Venice that aims to improve the lives of people with disabilities.
Glidance founder Amos Miller, who lost his sight early in life, demonstrated a small, two-wheeled device that serves as a guide dog for walkers who cannot see.
The skid destination can be selected and a person holding the handle can lead the way, or it can be easily pushed along an obstacle sensor and direct users along safe routes.
“All you have to do is walk, and the wheels will move,” Miller told AFP as he explained the device.
“I can tell him where to go if I want, but he’ll resist bumping into anything.”
The Seattle-based startup plans to launch a beta program for Glide later this year and make it as affordable as a smartphone.
Another Seattle startup called OneCourt has created what looks like a toy-sized replica of an American football stadium that turns real-time updates from a sports match into vibrations.
Visually impaired sports fans can put their hand on the fake field to feel the excitement of playing.
The device can work with a series of sports including tennis, hockey and American football.
“We are passionate about making live sports accessible to people with visual impairments,” said Jered Mays, CEO of OneCourt.
“Basically, trying to bring people closer to the action.”
Vibrations on the device provide a sense of factors such as how fast the ball or puck is moving, where players are on the court, and how they are maneuvering.
Mace hopes the yet-to-be-released device will be available through partnerships with teams or leagues, free for use by visually impaired fans at games.
The innovations displayed at CES included glasses equipped with technology for the blind from Lumen, which allows the wearer to know where it is safe to walk, and even avoid puddles.
There were glasses with frames that were also used as a hearing aid as well as glasses to compensate for visual impairments or even dyslexia.
Offerings from Israel-based Orcam included portable scanners that read and even translate texts for students with learning difficulties or young immigrants just learning English.
“Accessibility is the best use of technology,” said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Techsponential.
© Agence France-Presse