This new addition to the gadget world is a must have for all those dreamers who cannot put their dreams into reality. Graffiti artist TEMPT is the one such person who is completely paralyzed, able to only use his eyes. Thus to give his life a meaning, Mick Ebeling gave a TED Talk about “The invention that unlocked a locked-in artist.”
He originally met with TEMPT to discuss the sponsoring of the ALS-afflicted artist, and was surprised that the communication options available for normal-not-so-wealthy people were nothing close to Stephen Hawking levels. Watching TEMPT and his family use an alphabet grid reminded him of Jean-Dominique Bauby in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly or Hector Salmanaca in Breaking Bad.
This inspired him to such an extent that Ebeling promised TEMPT that they would be able to communicate again, and in a much better and proper way; that he would be able to live his dream and will be able do some form of art. The communication was not a difficult element – squabbling with insurance companies for a couple of years ultimately yielded a Stephen Hawking speech device
To accomplish this he went up to GRL - Graffiti Research Lab - and created an optical recognition technology that projects light onto large surfaces and in turn draws shapes and lines. With this technology in hand, Mick came up with the brilliant idea that if TEMPT could move his eyes, he could control the advent of light and in turn put his imagination into reality and create art!
Subsequently programmers and hackers were mobilized into Eberling’s house to craft the Eye Writer. The device was finally created using a pair of sunglasses from the Venice boardwalk, a PS3 camera, and several parts from Home Depot. This amazing Eye Writer cannot only be built by anyone but the open source software is also free to download, giving everyone equal opportunity to draw and communicate using only their eyes with no limitations from insurance companies or hospitals!
The Eye Writer was finally given to TEMPT enabling him to draw light graffiti on the side on a building while lying on his hospital bed.
Eberling and his “Not Impossible Foundation” are carrying out numerous inspirational projects to improve the lives of others who are not so capable of doing it themselves. As he said during a speech, “When presenting engineering to first year students, one of my mantras is that engineers should make the world a better place.”
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