In the Connected Wheelchair Project, the Intel IoT group uses the Intel Galileo board to help Dr. Hawking and people with disabilities seamlessly interact and analyze their health, wheelchair, and accessibility, significantly improving day-to-day life.
The device monitors vitals of the person sitting in the chair, including blood pressure, heart rate and body temperature. It also collects information on the user’s surroundings, allowing them to rate accessibility of different locations.
Stephen Hawking is an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge. He has a motor neurone disease related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a condition that has progressed over the years. He is almost entirely paralysed and communicates through a speech generating device.
