As the new Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Technology, Sydney, Professor Hung Nguyen is modest but proud of the breakthrough UTS has made in biomedical devices - and rightly so. He conceived the idea for the Smart Wheelchair, an innovative wheelchair that thinks for itself.

Then Deputy-Prime Minister Julia Gillard (now Prime Minister) discussed the thought-controlled wheelchair with UTS PhD student Jordan Nguyen. Photography by Joanne Saad.

Nguyen is co-director of UTS's Centre for Health Technologies, a centre dedicated to research and development in health technologies which consists of UTS staff, UTS postgraduate students and industry experts. Currently, Nguyen and his team are working on a system that reads brainwaves to give mobility control to those who cannot move their heads.

"It came about more than 15 years ago. I used to work with robotics a lot. I designed robots to play chess, for example, and I could see the cooperation with artificial intelligence of robotics and neuroscience. I thought at some stage it would be worthwhile to utilise robotics for people with severe disabilities - especially those who can't use their hands to control a wheelchair." Having previously developed electronic systems for the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children, Nguyen was aware of the limitations placed on people with disabilities. The desire to develop a technology to help them became his focus. "I knew it was going to be a terribly complicated concept to work on, and at the same time I knew it would be very rewarding." With the small box attached to the back of the user's head, Aviator looks at the brain waves and makes decisions based on what the user is thinking. "It's very much a fancy headband," jokes Nguyen.

UTS PhD student Jordan Nguyen takes the thought-controlled wheelchair for a spin. Photography by Chris Bennett."

Control of the wheelchair is based on a set of metaphors - something to associate with an action. For example, if a user wants to move left, they could think about composing a letter and writing 'Dear John'. The chair responds with its associated action and turns left. To go right, you could answer an arithmetic equation in your head. To stop, the user can simply close their eyes.

With the Aviator project successful in winning the Most Exciting Innovation and Most Potential for Global Expansion categories at the recent Tech23 event in Sydney, Nguyen knows people are recognising that UTS is doing some amazing work. The wheelchair, however, is only the beginning - his team is already working on a thought-controlled car.

"Our centre's research programmes are currently at the cutting edge of biomedical engineering and biotechnology science, and I believe we are one of the most innovative centres in Australia."

For details of all UTS courses available to international students, including engineering and information technology courses, see www.uts.edu.au/international

Extract from an article by Katia Sanfilippo
Reproduced, with permission, from U: magazine
Photography: Joanne Saad, Chris Bennett
UTS International / UTS CRICOS Provider Code: 00099F
Source: David Samuel, Business Development Manager Austrade - Colombo.
Email: David.Samuel@austrade.gov.au