A keyboard for patients with spinal cord injury made by Peruvian university students: we tell you what it consists of and how it works

It is a different keyboard, which barely has 16 but large keys. It is compact, transportable and allows people with some type of physical problem to reintegrate into their work and social life.

“Our goal itself was to give autonomy and independence to the user. Very few people, after having suffered a spinal cord injury, manage to return to their workplace. “It is a very low percentage.”Daysi Valverde (20) tells us to The Commerce.

This is how the keyboard made by UPCH students works. It can be connected to any computer and allows patients to return to work or reintegrate into social life.

She is a student of Biomedical Engineering at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH). Together with four other colleagues, he created this innovative adaptive keyboard that led them to win the gold medal in the KIWIE 2024 international competition, which took place in July of this year, in South Korea.

They began the work last year, as part of a course, and the challenge was to create a device for a clinical case, that of a patient with a C6 level spinal cord injury that is characterized by the inability to move the hands.

Valverde indicated that his group focused on portability, so that “the patient can take it to their work or university center”.

An innovative challenge

Technology is an important factor in the device made by UPCH students. To develop this keyboard, design, electronics and, especially, computing were worked on. Although writing equipment already exists on the market, the purpose was to present an innovative device.

“The main part in the construction of the keyboard became the code since the keyboard basically works like an old cell phone, with an alphanumeric system; “Only the code is quite fundamental since it has three main functions in which both the letters and the numbers are activated, or whatever symbols the user wants to put in.”explains Valverde.

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On the keyboard you can also find the functions of directional arrows, enter, delete, among others. Another important part was the PCB board (circuit), for which they worked with the EasyEDA software. The keyboard was produced using 3D design. The keys are quite large and each one groups different functions. Additionally, they have a wide separation.

Best of all, it is compatible with any operating system. That is, it can be installed on any computer. Only one USB connector is needed. “As the code is already included inside the keyboard, only a USB cable is necessary and it would already be fully functional”says the student.

Rehabilitation: a difficult reality

Rehabilitation is not a simple process. The UPCH students accompanied the design of the keyboard with research. Now the keyboard is being tested by a patient who, due to an accident, has this type of paralysis and has shown them the difficult and expensive reality of rehabilitation.

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In addition to the physical problem, there is also a psychological crisis that the patient faces. But it is also expensive and with few opportunities. Valverde points out that there are very few assisted technology devices that are provided. “and not even the cost is cheap, they have to buy from abroad”. A patient on whom the equipment was tested said that a computer writing device cost him around five thousand soles.

“The keyboard that we have made is valued at about 170 soles, which is more or less economical for this type of patient”he indicates. In addition, it is portable, since it can be placed in a backpack, unlike other equipment.

In his case, he hopes to continue creating devices for rehabilitation, especially in dental health. “I would focus more on rehabilitation because I feel that these people suffer a lot psychologically after having suffered an accident, and I think they can recover part of that joy or that independence through rehabilitation,” says the student.

On the other hand, among students who are around 20 years old, not only a keyboard was worked on. Valverde tells us that other groups of colleagues made an anti-decubitus mattress and a mouse that complements the adaptive keyboard.