Parkinson’s disease affects almost 10 million people in the world and is known as one of the most dangerous diseases you can be diagnosed with. The patients suffering from Parkinson’s have to deal with involuntary tremors, that hinder mundane everyday tasks such as eating and changing. These tremors can escalate to a point where the patient needs helps from others with basic tasks and that’s just saddening. Thanks to Faii Ong, a student, the patients might soon leave the tremors behind!
Ong has created GyroGlove and was inspired into making it after taking care of a patient that suffered from Parkinson’s. Ong says that seeing the 103-year old lady struggle to eat because of the tremors moved him. Fast forward two years and Ong along with his company, GyroGear, has come up with a prototype glove that can help with reducing tremors by almost 90%. The glove features a small gyroscope that has been attached to the back of the hand.
Ong says, “Mechanical gyroscopes are like spinning tops: they always try to stay upright by conserving angular momentum. My idea was to use gyroscopes to instantaneously and proportionally resist a person’s hand movement, thereby dampening any tremors in the wearer’s hand.”
Apart from gloves, the company has also created an application that is capable of measuring the tremors’ progress and can calibrate the device. The project, as of now, doesn’t have a final and commercial version of the project ready, however, aims at a continuous improvement to the point where it reaches the market.
The end goal of providing a normal life to patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease is still away, but its projects such as this that are helping us move closer to the end goal.
