New application allows disabled mobile users access to technology hands free

Global Business

An Israeli tech company is working to make smart phones even smarter. Developers at Sesame Enable have created a platform to allow paralyzed users to control their tech gadgets hands free. CCTV’s Roee Ruttenberg reported this story from Haifa, Israel.

Electrical engineer Giora Livne, 64, fell off a ladder nine years ago and has been confined to a wheelchair ever since, unable to move his legs and arms. Determined to still use a cell phone, he co-invented a new mobile application, Sesame Enable, that uses voice commands and movements from a user’s head.

Livne said he can now use most applications and enjoy the privacy of making his own phone calls.

Oded Ben Dov, a software developer who partnered-up with Livne three years ago jokingly said touching mobile phones is overrated.

“The phone was working for some test users before it was working for Livne. Because Livne’s head movements are really limited. When we took a video of him and watched it in the lab, we couldn’t even tell her was moving his face,” Dov said. “But then we did a lot of work on the algorithm, and now it’s even tracking his fine movements.”

The partners hope that eventually this technology can be applied to all things that now requires touching, even driving, and improve millions of lives.

Giora Livne’s son, Ori, said the application has given his father new-found independence.