Abstract
A communications aid for the severely handicapped is described. The aid is primarily intended to be mounted on an electric wheelchair and to be powered from the chair's battery. It may be operated by any two-switch input system or by more elaborate controls such as joy-sticks. The central unit of the aid is a purpose-built 8085 microcomputer, the operating program and data tables being sotred in a 2 kbyte EPROM. The input control is used to drive a cursor around an 8 × 8 letter board array, the selected alphanumeric character being output to a liquid crystal display. Up to 64 messages, each of no more than 15 characters, can be composed and stored by the user and recalled as required. The messages are stored in a 2 kbyte CMOS memory and are retained when the aid is switched off. It is a simple matter to increase the number of stored messages. The aid was designed with the needs of a particular 15 year old, athetoid child in mind and the results of his tests of the aid will be briefly discussed.
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