Wheelchairs controlled by sight could transform lives of people with locked in syndrome

An innovative wheelchair which is controlled by tracking someone's eye movements, could prove to be "life-changing" for people with rare disorders such as locked in syndrome.

The new invention has won a prize in a ‘Dragons Den’ style student design competition hosted by innovative care provider Blackwood.

The wheelchair designed by Oxford University Biomedical Engineering student, Kirubin Pillay, received the top prize in a competition aimed at encouraging and discovering new innovative ideas and solutions for people living with physical and mental disabilities.

Mr Pillay said: “I still can’t believe I have won, I’m so grateful to Blackwood and the panel for choosing my design.

“I wanted to get involved as I knew my device had great potential to be extremely useful for people who really need it.

“The student design award provided an opportunity to receive constructive feedback on the device’s commercial merits as well as provide an opportunity to present the system.

“The advice and guidance I will now receive will mean there is a far greater chance of this becoming a reality and making it a successful product.”

The design stems from the structure of an electric wheelchair and features a frame that communicates with the electronics of the wheelchair via a laptop and eye tracker. The laptop that controls the wheelchair uses a ‘smart’ algorithm and signals from the eye tracker to communicate the positioning of the wheelchair.

Mr Pillay added: “I admire Blackwood's openness in accepting new ideas no matter how apparently outlandish they may seem at first to be, and it shows that they give all new designs a fair chance for success no matter what state of development they are in.

“The pitch during the final was representative of what you would expect to face in the Engineering and Business world so provides added real experience and practice. If anyone out there has an idea that they think can make a huge difference to the disabled population, you should definitely enter the competition.”

As the winner of the competition, Mr Pillay has the backing of Blackwood and its partners to help make his design a reality for people with severe disabilities. MacRoberts LLP will give Mr Pillay legal advice and BT has offered an iPad and service support to help with the development process.

Chief executive at Blackwood, Fanchea Kelly, emphasised the benefits that the competition provides to young designers by giving them the opportunity to show off their ideas. Ms Kelly said: “We were blown away by some of the entries and it was extremely difficult to choose just one, but Kirubin’s design is incredibly innovative and could provide a life changing facility to those who are living with rare disorders such as locked in syndrome.

“We hope with our backing and the backing from our partners, that the design will go on to help many people and improve their quality of living.

“We would also like to wish all the runners up the best of luck and much continued success in their design endeavours.”

The competition received entries from across the world in person and via the internet in front of a panel of judges.

Blackwood has been providing housing and care services for more than 40 years and operate homes and care facilities throughout Scotland. Homes are adaptable for older people, people with disabilities and sensory impairments; these can include ‘rise and fall’ kitchens where work surfaces can be adjusted for all users and wheelchair accessibility.