New device enables disabled people to summon their electric wheelchair
A team of experts at the Jerusalem hospital developed the device, called Chair Call, to significantly improve the quality of life for the wheelchair-bound.
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICHTHE ‘CHAIR CALL’ device for electric wheelchairs, controlled by an application installed on a smartphone, costs NIS 60.(photo credit: Courtesy)
A device developed for Alyn Rehabilitation Hospital for disabled children brings electric wheelchairs to their users like welltrained dogs at their beck and call.A team of experts at the Jerusalem hospital developed the device, called Chair Call, to significantly improve the quality of life for the wheelchair-bound.The team, headed by Hila Borel and composed of specialists in pediatric rehabilitation, along with volunteers from Intel and various organizations, recently won the prize for outstanding social development in the make-a-thon at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. They developed the device out of a real need they observed in the children treated at the hospital.The device acts like remote control. It is placed on the joystick of the motor-driven wheelchair and is controlled by an application installed on a tablet or smartphone.The whole thing is inexpensive, costing only NIS 60; thus, it is accessible to any disabled person using an electric wheelchair.Alyn is dedicated to making physically disabled children more independent and to make it possible for them to become integrated in the community, thus contributing to the national economy.