UK company invents new pen for those suffering from Parkinson’s Disease

9 Apr 2015

If you know someone with Parkinson’s disease, you may be familiar with how increasingly difficult everyday tasks may become for those suffering. That’s why the UK-based design company Dopa Solutions built the ARC pen, a pen that helps stabilize tremors experienced by those with micrographia when writing.

Micrographia is a condition often experienced by those with Parkinson’s Disease, in which handwritten print becomes progressively smaller, more clustered and eventually, illegible. Those who suffer from the condition report difficulty in performing seemingly mundane writing tasks, such as signing a card, a check or journaling. The ARC pen is a way to give these people back an aspect of their livelihood.

The contraption is the brain-child of Lucy Jung and designers from the Imperial College and the Royal College of Art. It began as an experiential art project that would allow people to experience writing as someone with micrographia. To the group’s surprise, however, the tremor of the pen was instead more effective in neutralizing the tremor of micrographia patients (and thus, a much more benevolent invention, too).

The ARC pen is roughly the side of a large cigar. It is equipped with sensor that causes the pen to tremble in a way that massages the muscles of the hand, allowing for bigger, more legible writing. During clinical testing, 86% of the study group experienced more legible writing with the ARC pen than without it.

There hasn’t been word yet on brining the product to market, but it seems likely, as Dopa Solutions announced that it would be working on an entire line of tremor-neutralizing products, including make-up brushes, cosmetics, computer mice and more. The UK-based company, however, isn’t the only team of innovators developing products for this market.

Google announced the development of a spoon that neutralized hand tremors of those suffering from various diseases, allowing victims to successfully bring food from the plate to their mouths without spilling. While the promotional video for the product won’t win any awards, people suffering from body tremors deal with such issues on a daily basis. Products like the ARC pen and Google X’s Liftware are a welcome answer to give those suffering from such debilitating diseases a more normal day-to-day experience.

According to the National Parkinson Foundation, between 4 and 6 million people worldwide suffer from Parkinsn’s disease. Micrographia is considered an early sign of Parkinson’s disease, but other diseases result in body tremors as well. While it’s anyone’s guess and to when, or if, these products will ever make it to market, we can at least applaud the effort to use innovation and human ingenuity for the advent of something more globally useful than, say, the umbrella rain tube.