PELE: Personalized Equipment Leading to Empowerment
Celebrates 5 Years of Solutions
The PELE track at ALYN Hospital’s Innovation Space offers personalized, cost-effective solutions for children facing physical challenges in their daily lives. PELE creates custom technological innovations to enhance children's independence, supporting them in areas such as mobility, seating, communication, gaming, recreation, independent feeding and bathing.
The expert staff at PELE has at its disposal a fully equipped workshop including 3D printers, a laser-cutter, metal soldering, a carpentry area, an electronics room, and more. Since PELE opened its doors in 2018, it has developed over 800 solutions (143 in 2023 alone)!
Among the solutions the staff has created are the following:
- Mechanical game of "memory" or "snakes & ladders" controlled by an eye-tracking system so that a child who is paralyzed can play with other children
- Pool slide for children who use wheelchairs
- Arm that can hold a lollipop (or other small food item) that is controlled by a light switch, allowing a child with little muscle control to independently bring the lollipop to her mouth to lick it
- Arm that can hold a lollipop (or other small food item) that is controlled by a light switch, allowing a child with little muscle control to independently bring the lollipop to her mouth to lick it
- 360-degree camera for a child who is paralyzed to be able to see all around her through a tablet
- Colorful, musical hand sanitation device to encourage children to sanitize their hands
- Mechanism to prevent teen who uses a powered wheelchair from falling onto the sidewalk
- Glove to maintain an angle between the hand and the wrist so that children with CP can maintain their grip on bike handlebars
The solutions developed are also accessible to children, parents and therapists world-wide via a dedicated open-source global platform on the internet and through its catalogue, which is available in Hebrew, English and Arabic.
Since October 7, PELE has been active creating solutions for children whose families have been evacuated from the North and the South of the country, as well as for soldiers and young adults injured in the attacks of October 7th and the ensuing war. (More in the December Newsletter).
To learn more about PELE, please watch this video, which was put together in celebration of this milestone 5th anniversary.