Mick Ebeling: The invention that unlocked a locked-in artist

http://www.ted.com The nerve disease ALS left graffiti artist TEMPT paralyzed from head to toe, forced to communicate blink by blink. In a remarkable talk at TEDActive, entrepreneur Mick Ebeling shares how he and a team of collaborators built an open-source invention that gave the artist -- and gives others in his circumstance -- the means to make art again.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate.

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[doGoNsIylbaborPerehT]

Probably TEMPT would not be alive today without doctors, hospitals, the evil empire of health insurance and pharmaceutical companies.

[MisterEvil1]

Another fine example that the profit motive is NOT the end all and be all of motivation!

[Gilbert De La Rosa]

Dude this is so sick......awesome!

[Kai Tendo]

...And all the other things in the Universe. ;D

[TuwaLiking]

One open.source project that deserves recognition!

Makes you feel a little warm inside, have seen TEMPT's work, and now knowing that he can do art again ... well thanks.

[CasusUniversum]

My girlfriend: "What are you watching... why are you crying?" Me: "Little micro camera... glasses... sniff... graffiti artist guy..."

[Aitamen]

Yeah, you're not talking about the same things I am. I was talking about an optic-recognizer.

Also, yeah, it's a difference between countries, heh.

I'm curious about the Bliss language, unless you mean Blissymbolics, in which case it'd be learning a new language, which may or may not be easy for TEMPT1 and/or his family. It's also doubtful the doctors cared (living != rehabilitation costs). Regardless, this not only lets him communicate, but practice his passion, art, as well~

[Aitamen]

There's a lot of stuff they didn't use because of the price involved. The entire Eyewriter unit, with readily available parts, costs ~250USD and 2-3 hours of construction (And programming/adjusting time). Las' Glasses for optical recording (if we're talking about the same things) cost around 800USD, and are a lot harder to work with as a programmer, from what I've read.

[Un5een]

amazing! kudos!

[Rex Kirby]

who are the six people who disliked this video?? amazing job



[knewways]

My uncle helped a man that was paralyzed and "locked inside his body" to communicate for the first time in 19 years. This is important information for us to easily communicate mute people. Check out the video for "Tap Code Practice — Intro"