Mexican to help develop prototypes for people with ALS

Fernando Álvarez Flores, a student at Tecnológico de Monterrey’s Saltillo campus, has been selected by the University of Illinois Chicago to participate in developing prototypes to facilitate the mobility of people with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

The aim of the research is to create elbow, wrist, ankle, and knee supports for patients who are unable to move their limbs voluntarily.

“There are no limits to this project,” said Fernando.

To do this, the student will spend the August-December 2022 semester in Chicago.

Fernando managed to gain a place on this project by responding to a call launched by the Chicago Liaison Office of the Vice-Rector’s Office for Internationalization.

The project

The project in which the Saltillo student will participate is entitled Development of an assistive SWEHO for ALS patients controlled by bio-signals.

Experts and students from the health sector and different fields of engineering will participate in this initiative.

Fernando was the only one of the 10 students selected for this semester who is studying engineering; similarly. He was also the only one from Saltillo campus.

His participation in the research project will focus on programming, control, and prototype design.

Getting to work!

“There are no limits to this project,” said the student when discussing the initiative to extend the project to more areas of the human body to help people who suffer from ALS or other diseases.

Research will also take place on the frequencies that will be used in the prototype designs through the Human Tool System, which works as a link between brain frequencies and a computer.

“My goal is to help as much as I can with the design and programming of prototypes, while continuing to research the project,” added the student.

“I’m very happy that students like Fernando are taking advantage of the international opportunities we offer and which any student can participate in each semester,” said Juan José Cabrera, Director of the Chicago Liaison Office.

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