Heide Pfüetzner is a paralyzed woman and loves to paint. But her paralysis condition couldn’t stop her from painting. This artist can paint using an Intendix Painting software from biomedical engineering firm Gtec that lets her control digital brushes with brainwaves.
Since 2007, Heide Pfüetzner has been suffering from “Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)“, or “Lou Gehrig’s disease,” a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. And due to this disease, she became paralyzed. However, as she had a great interest in painting, so she had been painting by her mind via a computer.
There are two screens – one displaying the software’s matrix of tools and the other functions like a canvas, showing the picture as it evolves. The images of the various tools flash at different times.
As Pfüetzner focuses on the tool she wants to select, she counts the flashes, causing her brain activity to spike. The computer determines which option she’s focusing on by comparing the timing of the brainwaves to the timing of the desired flashing tool.
In the last six years, Heide Pfüetzner has created a lot of paintings and now an exhibition named “Brain on Fire,” is running on at Easdale, a small island off the west coast of Scotland. Visitors to the Easdale Island Hall there are now seeing the vibrantly colored digital paintings. The exhibit will run till July 25.
Source: CNET
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