Roberta Wilson-Garrett smiles sweetly at me and explains that the struggle to draw a spiral on a sheet of paper does not begin with putting the pen to the paper, but simply with trying to properly grasp the writing instrument. Wilson-Garrett has suffered from Parkinson’s disease for half a dozen years, but she is happy to show me how she fights it, simply so she can also show me how, with new technology, she doesn’t.
Wilson-Garrett initially pushed the pen through the paper and we retrieved a fresh sheet of paper. The spiral that Wilson-Garrett finally traced, and very slowly, is small and poorly formed. She put that piece of paper aside and then I watched as Dr. Faii Ong helped her put on the Gyro Glove, an FDA Class 1 approved device that can potentially counteract her tremors.
Ong has been developing the glove since Wilson-Garrett had Parkinson’s, but they didn’t meet until Wilson-Garrett attended the World Parkinson’s Congress in Barcelona, Spain, where GyroGear, the company founded by Ong, was showing off the latest version. . of the glove.
Wilson-Garrett initially saw the glove and didn’t try it, but when the stress of the conference increased the uncontrollable tremors that can start in his right hand and travel up his arm, Garrett decided to try the glove. The effect was immediate.
Dr Ong explained that the device is quite simple. It has a large gyroscopic motor that sits on the back of the glove, so it rests on the back of your hand and is connected to a battery. There is no complicated AI here and the glove has no idea of the user’s intentions. Instead, the gyroscope has one goal: to keep its inner top in a vertical position. A tremor would cause him to fall to one side or the other, so he counteracts the tremors to stay upright. That action, however, has had a radical impact on the Wilson-Garrett tremors.
As I sat next to Wilson-Garrett, she lit the glove, a process that takes only a few moments and that she compares to an airplane preparing on a runway for takeoff. I noticed a twinkle in Wilson-Garrett’s eyes as the GyroGlove’s monochrome LCD screen presented a large check mark, indicating it was ready to go.
Aside from the two pieces of hardware it has, the all-black GyroGlove looks like a pretty standard wristband. It’s not custom, but there are some small straps to customize the fit.
With the glove on and turned on, Wilson-Garrett grabbed the pen with ease and quickly drew a spiral. The constant vibration of the GyroGlove not only seemed to counteract his shakiness, but added a bit of jaggedness to his line, which flowed out of the pen in what could only be described as a near-perfect spiral.
Wilson-Garrett told me that the impact of this device on your life should not be underestimated. She recently purchased a unit of her own and said she no longer has to consider whether she can make a cup of coffee, eat something with a utensil or button her shirt.
Still, GyroGlove is not a cure. They are not the medications Wilson-Garrett takes to help control her symptoms and have no impact on the progression of the disease. Still, it seems to give back a little of her life and maybe, for now, that’s enough.
Like most game-changing health devices, GyroGlove doesn’t come cheap. They currently cost $5,899 each, and while there is availability worldwide, the UK-based team at GyroGear couldn’t tell me how much they might cost outside of the US.
@techradar ♬ glass – Nekoi
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