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Liftware Level, Google's Smart Spoon
The Liftware Level device is intended to help people with hand tremors eat soup or cereal for themselves.
On one end of the utensil is a strap which can be attached to the user’s hand to prevent dropping.The smarter bit is at the other end, however, where the Level helps users avoid spilling their food by recognizing the orientation of their hands and then actively counterbalancing their movements by contorting its flexible structure.
To achieve this active cancellation tech, the Level utilizes motion sensors and a built-in chip. That gives it one-up on alternate rival implements, which have tended to rely on manual functionality. According to Liftware, using the Level’s smart tech it is possible to reduce tremor-related spillages by more than 70 percent.
Although not an exact match, I was strongly reminded of a clever story by Ellis Parker Butler in 1926 titled An Experiment in Gyro-Hats. In the story, a powerful gyroscope is installed in a gentleman's top hat to counteract the effects of tipsiness on walking:
She then told him of the gyro-hat I had invented, and explained just why I had come to this place and, had swallowed the strong brandy. I took no part in this conversation, but Walsingham gladly agreed to accompany us, and he put my gyro-hat on my head.The result was indeed marvelous. Instantly the vacuum pump began to work and the gyroscope to revolve. My head, which had been lying on one side, straightened up. The rubber sweat band gripped my head tightly with a slight pulling sensation. Without assistance I arose from my chair and stood erect. My brain was still confused, but I walked as straight as a string direct to the door of the restaurant, and stood holding it open while my wife passed out with the ever staggering Walsingham.
The gyroscope was revolving at the rate of three thousand revolutions a minute, and the slight humming was hardly noticeable. I did not stagger and I did not reel. When I reached Gramercy Park I was full of glee. I had been walking on the edge of the curb, but I now desired to climb atop of the iron fence that surrounds the park, and walk on the points of the pickets.
(Read more about the gyro-hat)
Via Digital Trends.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 5/21/2020)
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