Device helps stroke patients finger their needs

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: Fingers that talk. A small group of stroke victims has finally been able to indicate its needs using finger configurations on a device invented by four post-graduate students at University of Malaya.
All they have to do to show that they are, among others, hungry, want to pray, or have their bed lifted is to repeatedly place their fingers on different sensors on the device.
A small LCD screen above translates the configurations into English.
Group leader Ahmad Khirrullah Mansor, 25, said: "I came up with this device that can help victims ‘tell’ their care-givers and companions what they want.
"It is targeted at severe stroke victims where the patient’s movement is limited to a few fingers."
Ahmad Khirrullah, who is completing his final semester in master’s degree in engineering in telecommunications, said the device detected variations in the shape or form of the fingers placed on it.
The device, costing under RM500, is targeted at hospitals, nursing homes and patients at home.
Sharifah Nur Anthasha Syed Ahmad, 35, who lectures in the Faculty of Creative Multimedia, was the brains behind the device’s language.
The invention is on exhibition at the three-day Engineering Invention ’N Innovation Challenge (EINIC) 2007 at Dewan Tunku Canselor, University of Malaya.