Spring the Maid

UTECHZONE's eye-controlled system that restores the faculty of communication In a system that is reminiscent of one used by the famous and wheelchair bound Oxford physicist, Stephen Hawking, but is a whole lot more powerful, patients suffering from spinal injury, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) like Hawking himself, are able to 'literally' take flight from their physically restrained bodies. Now they are free to enjoy renewed freedom in chatting, surfing the Internet, on-line shopping contributing to a blog, sending e- mails, choosing music, watching movies, listening to radio or even writing articles ' and all through glancing at icons on the screen. There is no need for physical contact and Spring the Maid is always on hand when a user's thirst or appetite stirs. It is all the brainchild of Utechzone's General Manager Jack Chang who, although he heads up a company that for twenty years has been developing technology for AOI inspection for the LCD and PCB industry, has always had in mind a product that would one day combine all these technologies in a powerful tool to return the power and ease of communication to the physically challenged. Inspired by a friend? What really got him started on it though, he recounts, was the plight of a good friend, a passionate reader who, some years ago, was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). The friend even needed help each time he needed to turn the page of a book. "He told that eventually his eyes would be the only part of his body he抎 be able to control." Jack movingly recalls. "We used our core technologies of pattern recognition and artificial intelligence to combine optics, hardware and image processing technology for 'Machine Vision' because ultimately the ability of Machine Vision is a lot better than the human eye in high speed and detailed measurement." The communication function of his brainchild is divided into 'Word and Pictures. In the latter, he says, users indicate where and how they feel uncomfortable by choosing pictures of body parts and some common symptom descriptions. In Word communication users make sentences to express their feelings and thought and can even demonstrate their talent in writing. Looking ahead His company's goals, he said, were all about vision, a vision that has begun with a medical application and will now be possible to use eventually in a home care system. Another application of Utechzone's Machine Vision in the future will be surveillance for intelligent analysis. Applying the software concept of image processing, English, Chinese and Japanese versions will be ready for marketing to hospitals and special need patients in the first quarter of 2010. With 250 employees, 100 of whom are R & D mechanical and software engineers, the company has a factory in Taipei and a branch in Mainland China. It is currently looking for agents on the world market but will in the meantime make its presence felt at exhibitions in Asia and abroad. "This might be a future multimillion dollar market," the General Manager says, "but with a goal to serve and return the power of communication to the physically challenged we have all our core values in the right place." (the end) (Source: David Monson)Air Maxs