Ivanhoe Media Project Xavier

rnrnTranscriptrnCharlie Merritt’s reality shattered in an instant on a sunny august day in 2014rn0:06when he broke his neck diving into shallow water I remember floating in thern0:11waterrn0:11face down and basically feeling like I was going to drown paralyzed from thern0:17neck down the former Marine has been able to get around only with the help ofrn0:21his wife and inexpensive motorized wheelchair but enterprising mechanicalrn0:27engineering students at the University of Central Florida had a better idearn0:31since we’re all students at first it’s a little scary cuz we see this device thatrn0:35we made being used by somebody then we see it works perfectly pretty much lostrn0:39the it’s an amazing feeling they created a 3d device that controls wheelchairsrn0:44with simple facial movements sensors attached to muscles send electricalrn0:49commands to direct charlie’s chair I’m not burdening the people around me to have to use their assistancern1:09unlike other disability devices the college senior design project which isrn1:13not yet being mass-produce is very affordable this device will cost lessrn1:17than $400 compared to several thousand for similar designs I’m already sawrn1:23reportingrnrn