Many neurological disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) can lead to severe mobility limitations where the patient is completely, or almost completely, paralyzed. ALS has even been described as “locked-in” syndrome, since the brain is functional, but the personality is locked in a body with almost no voluntary control. The objective of this thesis is to design, implement, and test a sensor based platform called EMPWRD which empowers users who suffer from severe mobility limitations with the ability to speak and express themselves using state-of-the-art tools such as an input-adaptive grid scanner and an Natural Language Processing (NLP) powered cluster ambiguous keyboard;
It also helps them control devices in their surroundings. The platform is modular and compatible with any device that supports HTML and Javascript; thus, it can easily integrate new features and adapt to different users’ needs. In this thesis, we present the aforementioned platform with the addition of a Text-To-Speech (TTS) and a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) module that enable users to make live phone calls, along with some comparisons and experimental analysis.
