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Dream-Racer Allowing Disabled Kids To Play Independently |
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Written by CB Team
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Wednesday, 04 July 2007 |
 Actinic - the ecommerce software supplier - is helping two Shropshire-based web entrepreneurs, Mike Taylor and Mark Heath of Dream-Racer, to make their invention available to the thousands of severely disabled youngsters who find it hardest to play independently.
The product, also called Dream-Racer, is a baseball cap fitted with sensitive electronic sensors enabling the wearer to operate a specially adapted Nikko radio-controlled car using tiny head movements. The cap replaces the hand-held joystick normally used and the toy car reacts accordingly - the user can even speed up or slow down, skills permitting.
The pair use a free copy of Actinic Catalog to power their online store which only took two weeks to build. Mike Taylor says, “Actinic is so easy to use and that's all I ask for. Alongside exhibitions and physical demos, the internet is key to making our target market aware of what we are doing. We really appreciate the support that Actinic is giving us on the ecommerce side.”
Dream-Racer is the brain-child of Mark Heath, an electronics genius, who was asked by the Round Table charity if he could find a way to enable a totally paralysed five-year-old boy, Daniel Reeves, drive a radio-controlled car. The result was the baseball cap capable of controlling a gleaming model Aston Martin. However, Dream-Racer only became available commercially as a result of Mark meeting Mike Taylor, a businessman who specialises in converting inventions into sales.
Following positive endorsements from users and physiotherapists, Mark is
now working on two new Dream-inventions. The first is Dream-Gamer with the
same baseball cap idea adapted for children and young adults with physical disabilities to have fun on a Sony PlayStation. Dream-Gamer is undergoing CE certification testing and, when complete, will be launched in September 2007.
Secondly there’s Dream-Mouse - the latest invention. It is a device for accessing and controlling a PC using the same motion sensors found in Dream-Racer and Dream-Gamer. “Dream-Mouse has a world-wide potential market as it will enable severely handicapped people of any age to operate a computer.
Most excitingly, it opens the way to employment for many, not just entertainment and education,” says Taylor. The design will be finalised in August ahead of CE testing and product launch is scheduled for October 2007.
Prices for Dream-Racer kits starting from £159.
Dream-Racer
Actinic
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 04 July 2007 )
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