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August 28, 2012

Tongue Drive System to Help Disabled (Image 1)

Cruise Bogle participates in a clinical trial of the Tongue Drive system, an assistive technology that enables individuals to maneuver a powered wheelchair or control a mouse cursor using simple tongue movements. For the clinical trial, which took place at the Atlanta-based Shepherd Center, Bogle moved his tongue to direct the Tongue Drive system to move the powered wheelchair around an obstacle course. The clinical trials showed that the Tongue Drive system, which was developed by engineers at Georgia Tech, was intuitive and simple for individuals with high-level spinal cord injuries to use.

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation (grant IIS 08-03184) and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. To learn more, see the GA Tech Research News story Tongue Power: Clinical Trial Shows Quadriplegic Individuals Can Operate Powered Wheelchairs and Computers with Tongue Drive System. (Date of Image: June 2009) [Image 1 of 3 related images. See Image 2.]

Credit: Georgia Tech; photo by Gary Meek


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