Steadying the Hand
LiftWare spoon
Company: Lift Labs
Price: $299
Availability: Late summer
People with tremors caused by strokes, Parkinson’s disease, or other problems could find eating much easier with a spoon that corrects for their shaking hands. Engineers at Lift Labs, a San Francisco–based company focused on health-care devices, put motion sensors in the handle of the spoon to detect the unintentional repetitive movements that characterize tremors. To counteract the tremors, motors in the handle move the bowl of the spoon in the opposite direction. The spoon doesn’t completely eliminate the shaking, but it is steadied just enough to more consistently hold food. The company plans to create other utensil attachments that can plug into this spoon’s rechargeable base.