An old farmers wisdom on the weather:

"Is October warm and fine, comes a strong winter without sunshine,
is October wet and cold, then winter sure will be mild."

 

"I don't mind being surprised by the weather, I take it as it comes.", says Christian, the German wheelchair user, with a great smile on his face. "With my life that's different -- here I really like to get a grip on things."

 

Said and done -- using the automatic Gripability gripping and grasping system, Christians phrase really has "the truest sense of the word touch"... and he goes on: "creative works, playing snooker and first of all a wide range of daily actions have only become possible for me, since I use "Gripability e3"."

Karlsruhe -- at the REHAB exhibition from 7th to 9th of May in Karlsruhe »Brave Art« presents itself to a larger public for the first time. Gripability the young creative German company supports the event with its innovative technical medical aids, automatic gripping systems and accessible easels. At the Brave Art stand visitors can experience a great variety of creative activities -- for example through the participation in workshops with street art artist Stefanie Peichal and photographer Luigi Toscano. The spinal-cord injured (tetraplegic) mouth painter Markus Kostka gives insights into his work, the pop art painter Maren Valenti demonstrates her techniques. Furthermore there are sculpturers, musicians and graphic artists ready to motivate young people with disabilities to »Brave Art«.

With its »accessible« easel and automatic gripping systems Gripability makes sure that people with disabilities can perform creative activities that previously were out of their reach.

Within only a few minutes visitors, maybe with a limited gripping and grasping ability like tetraplegics, are equipped with the gripping aid »Gripability e3« and can then become creative with pencil, brush or other tools. There are of course many occupational and physical therapists who as well want to know how this works. They can make their own experiences and have a go at a large canvas.

The canvas is located on the easel, which can be automatically adjusted in height using a remote control. Wheelchair accessibility is therefore possible as well.

"Hey! Such a cool technical aid is not only useful for people with disabilities...", calls out street art artist Stefanie Peichal joyfully while she is, with fast and experienced strokes of the brush, giving the canvas her handwriting, "...this is just masterly."

So emerges at the Gripability stand out of the participation of many an enthusiastic visitor a fascinating team artwork sized 1,2m x 1,6m. At an auction held during rehability's and Otto Bock's exhibition party this painting obtains a price of €2000 for the benefit of the Brave Art project.

Markus Kostka, the mouth painter, rapidly sketches a cat onto the paper which he has brought into position using the Gripability Xhand.

You will find the »Brave Art« project website here.

Le concepteur tétraplégique de Gripability présentait lui-même son produit, une pince de préhension placée sur le poignet. Elle fonctionne grâce à de l'air comprimé et un moteur placé derrière le dossier de fauteuil. L'air comprimé peut se recharger à l'aide d'une pompe ou d'un compresseur. La recharge d'air est nécessaire au bout de 300 à 400 ouvertures. La pince est réglable sur 3 niveaux en fonction des caractéristiques de l'objet à prendre. Ces réglages s'effectuent grâce à un boîtier (comparable à un manipulateur de fauteuil) placé par exemple en bout d'accoudoir du fauteuil. Différentes types de pinces sont disponibles. L'inventeur a développé également un autre produit pour les centres d'aide pour le travail afin d'améliorer et faciliter le travail des personnes qui n'ont l'usage que d'un bras. C'est également une pince mais qui est placée sur un bras devant la personne. L'ouverture et la fermeture de la pince sont commandées par une pédale au pied. Ce système permet par exemple de maintenir un sachet ouvert pour y introduire aisément des objets de la main valide.