500 word essay

My spoon

I don’t know about you but, when I wake up in the morning I pour myself a mammoth sized portion of icy cold cereal. Then I grab the biggest spoon in the drawer, and take in a mouth-full that would put a whale to shame. The thing is though, that I’m able to use my own two hands, were as somebody with, quadriplegic or paraplegic(Which is when you can’t use your arms or legs) would have to stay in bed, stare at the wall or sit on the side, to wait for somebody to pick them up. Now if that isn’t bad enough, they even have to be fed by their friends and loved ones, much like a child would. However, thanks to the inventers at Secom Inc. they finally are able to gain some of pride back. This mechanical device that has been able to make this dream possible is called My Spoon.

The first question you may be asking yourself is probably “What does this device do?” Well, imagine your arms and legs were strapped onto a chair. I am guessing it would feel pretty odd not to be able to use any of your limbs. Now picture your self trying to do your daily activities, such feeding your self. Try to picture that nightmare coming to life. Believe it or not it actually happens to some people. Inventers at Secom Inc. have notice the shame of having to be fed by your mom or dad, so they invented “My Spoon”. This device lets people who can’t use there arms feed them selves.

My Spoon is basically a remote control arm with a fork at the end. It uses a joystick and a unique tray that is separated in four places, to feed the handicapped. The individual being fed, firsts picks one of the four quadrants in the tray, then a food item. Next, using the controller, the person will navigate the fork to his or her mouth. This mechanical device, other then manual, also works in semi-auto, and full-auto. During semi- auto he or she has the capability to choose one of the four compartments, however the machine selects the food item and brings it to his or her mouth it self. It also uses a variety of control systems. To control “My Spoon” a joy stick is placed near the user’s chin or within a length that he or she can control. There are two types of joy sticks, standard and re enforced. The standard joystick is mainly used for people who are able to control it properly. The reinforced joystick is used if the operator can not use it accurately.

Although this seems like a very convenient piece of equipment, it actually has a couple of problems that may prevent it from assisting the user. One of those problems would be the fact that if the person has a difficulty maintaining an up right position, basically any thing under a 60 degrees and he or she would not be able to use it. Say you became paralyzed from a spinal cord injury don’t you think it would hurt a bit to sit up right for a while. Another dilemma, is if the operator has problems with his or hers motor skills or if he or she has trouble, seeing devises arm.