Essential tremors, affecting approximately 5% of the population, pose significant challenges for the elderly, limiting their daily activities. This neurodegenerative disorder primarily impacts motor movements, with familial factors playing a prominent role. Common symptoms include tremors, memory loss, and rigidity, particularly affecting activities like eating. Affected individuals, especially the elderly people often struggle with food consumption, requiring extended time to complete daily tasks. A few people accept and adapt to these challenges, existing aids, such as heavier gloves and specialized utensils, often compromise user comfort owing to their various backgrounds. To reduce, this project introduces a novel stabilized feeding aid specifically designed to address the difficulties faced by individuals with hand tremors. With a microcontroller that governs a brushless gimbal motor, the system effectively mitigates tremors. A triple accelerometer setup captures motion data, which is fused and utilized as input for the controller, which operates the motor and enhances the smooth operation of the feeding aid. This gyro- stabilized motor's end is connected to a customized 3D-designed adapter for optimal performance. Preliminary results demonstrate the effectiveness of the stabilized feeding aid, exhibiting smoother, tremor-free motion even under varying loads. This innovative approach holds promise for improving the daily lives of those suffering with essential tremors.
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A et al. (2024) studied this question.
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