"Feeding and Toileting Devices for a Child with Arthrogryposis" from the American Journal of Occupational Therapy (US) October 1979, p644-7.
"Self-feeding System for an Adult with Head Injury and Severe Ataxia"from the American Journal of Occupational Therapy (US) May 1993, p444-51.
Looking at these two articles, we thought that this idea of the user directly manipulating the spoon would be the ideal way to attack the problem. We are planning to visit a nearby hospital to speak to quadriplegic patients to see whether this is a better way than by using an intermediate linkage which would be attached to the head.
The latter would probably be most uncomfortable and would attract unnecessary attention. An improvement we would make would be to attach the spoon to a linkage similar to a drafting lamp, so that the user can directly manipulate the spoon. A mechanism would help hold the spoon in place to prevent spillage.
An additional component would be to have a rotating base for the plate, so that if the person were not able to move their torso, he can still be able to reach all the food. If we were to have a rotating plate, it could be either electrical by using a motor or it could be mechanical by using a ratchet type mechanism. Both would be used in conjunction with a chin switch to have control over the amount of rotation.
Copyright © Patricia M. Chael, Jimmy Lin, Devon Ramsundar