Light Switch Operated By Dog To Assist The Disabled

The disabled who happen to own a guide dog of their own will definitely be able to let you know of just how much easier their lives are with the presence of these beautiful four legged creatures. While smart homes with smart bulbs do come in handy from time to time, those can be rather expensive, so why not settle for something that requires teamwork – such as a dog-operated light switch?

A bunch of students decided to work on a new lamp switch which can be operated by a service dog in order to help those with limited mobility out around the home. Most of us would take the act of turning on a lamp for granted, but the quartet of industrial design students from the University of Ghent in Belgium decided to tackle the issue head on, resulting in a switch which can be activated by a dog’s nose.

In the video above, we see wheelchair-bound Heleen Bartsoen being assisted by her service dog Gyproc, who operates the switch of her lamp simply by having Gyproc push the switch with her nose, via the command “veritas”. Not only that, this switch has also been specially designed for Bartsoen to be able to operate it on her own when the situation calls for it, being tall enough. Pretty neat, don’t you think so?

Edwin Kee
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Tags: invention