科技前沿：通过舌头来操纵轮椅(图)(2)

　　Control systems that use sophisticated pads to measure neck and head movements are also widespread, but using the hardware can be tiring, and frustrating on smaller electronics like computers.

　　And while newer innovations that track eye movement are promising, they can be costly, slow and susceptible to mixed signals.

　　The tongue, though, is a more flexible, sensitive and tireless option. And like other facial muscles, its functions tend to be spared in accidents that can paralyze most of the rest of the body, because the tongue is attached to the brain, not the spinal cord.

　　The magnet’s movement is tracked by sensors on the side of each cheek, which sends data to a receiver atop a rather bulky set of headgear. It is then processed by software that converts the movement into commands for a wheelchair or other electronics.

　　After turning the system on, users are asked to establish six commands: Left, right, forward, backward, single-click and double-click. A graduate student who tested the technology was cruising the lab at will in a wheelchair, tongue firmly in cheek.

　　It’s an impressive display, and Ghovanloo said he hopes he could one day add dozens more commands that turn teeth into keyboards and cheeks into computer consoles. For example, “Left-up could be turning lights on, right-down could be turning off the TV,” Ghovanloo said.

　　The design certainly needs improvements. “It’s in its infancy and quite grotesque,” he said. But Cochran said its potential for almost limitless control options makes him want to shelve his “sip and puff” wheelchair.

　　“You could control not just your chair, your TV, your computer, but your entire life,” he said. “And it’s all one system.”