u/Background-Pick-4044

Hi everyone!

My name is Yusuf, and I'm a co-founder of ExG Labs, an early-stage assistive technology venture started by two undergraduate students at Texas A&M University. We are not affiliated with a formal academic research program. We are at the very beginning — two students trying to make sure we are solving a real problem before we build anything.

What we are working on: a wrist-worn wearable that detects subtle muscle signals from the forearm and translates them into device commands like scroll, click, or select, for phones, laptops, and smart home systems. The goal is to give individuals with motor impairments a more reliable and intuitive way to control technology without relying on exhausting or expensive solutions like eye gaze or sip-and-puff.

We want honest input from the ALS community specifically because the progression of the condition makes the design problem harder and more urgent simultaneously. We do not want to assume what that experience looks like.

A few questions:

• What digital tasks feel most out of reach right now, and what would it mean to get those back?
• Have you tried existing assistive technology? What worked, what failed, and what made you abandon something?
• For those in earlier stages who still have some forearm or wrist movement: has anything helped you use that residual function to interact with devices?
• What would make you trust a new device enough to incorporate it into your daily life?

We are not here to pitch anything. If you are willing to share your experience in the comments, or would prefer to talk directly, you can reach us at info@exglabs.com or yusiali@tamu.edu.

Thank you for your time! Your honesty is more valuable to us than any research paper.

Yusuf Ali, ExG Labs

Hi everyone!

I'm Yusuf, co-founder of ExG Labs. My co-founder and I are Texas A&M undergraduates developing a wrist-worn sEMG wearable that translates subtle forearm muscle signals into high-confidence device commands for individuals with motor impairments. We are in the problem validation phase with no prototype yet built, and OT perspective is the most grounded reality check we can get at this stage.

Our core assumption is that a meaningful population of motor-impaired individuals retains enough residual forearm muscle activity to generate classifiable sEMG signals, and that this population is currently underserved by existing assistive input solutions. We want to know whether that holds up clinically or falls apart quickly.

Specific questions:

• Across the patients you work with (stroke, SCI, ALS, CP, etc.) what proportion retain any intentional forearm or wrist movement? Does this vary significantly by condition and injury level?
• What assistive input solutions do you currently recommend most often, and where do they consistently fail your patients?
• Is digital device control a priority your patients raise, and if so, which tasks matter most?
• Have you encountered sEMG-based input devices clinically? What was the experience?
• What would you need to see from a device like ours to recommend it to a patient?

We're happy to share our current architecture for feedback. If you're open to a 20-minute conversation, please reach out at info@exglabs.com or yusiali@tamu.edu.

Yusuf Ali, ExG Labs
exglabs.com

Hi everyone,

My name is Yusuf. I co-founded ExG Labs, and we're building an early-stage assistive wearable that uses muscle signals from the forearm to control digital devices. We're at the stage where we need to hear directly from people with lived experience before we commit to any design decisions.

The CP community is particularly relevant to us because motor presentations vary so significantly as some people have meaningful forearm control with limited fine motor precision while others have very different profiles. We don't want to assume which scenario our device fits until we understand the actual landscape.

A few questions I genuinely want to understand:

• What does your forearm and wrist mobility look like, and have you found ways to use whatever movement you have to interact with devices?
• What has frustrated you most about existing assistive technology options?
• If you could point to one gap that nobody is actually solving well, what would it be?
• Would a device that uses subtle muscle signals rather than precise finger movements even be relevant to your situation?

Even a few sentences would help us design a system that meets your needs! Please feel free to reply here or reach out directly at info@exglabs.com.

Yusuf Ali,
Co-founder, ExG Labs
exglabs.com

Hello there,

My name is Yusuf Ali, and I'm a co-founder of ExG Labs. We are developing a wearable device that uses surface electromyography (sEMG) to help individuals with motor impairments control digital devices through subtle muscle signals. We are reaching out to healthcare professionals, caregivers, and individuals in the motor impairment community because your firsthand experience is essential to designing something that truly works.

We would greatly appreciate 5 minutes of your time to complete our survey: ExG Labs - Accessibility Survey

We are undergraduate students at Texas A&M University conducting this research as part of an early-stage assistive technology venture. Your feedback will directly shape our design priorities, including which features matter most, what price points are realistic, and what gaps exist in current assistive technology. If you know others who might benefit from or have insights on this type of solution, we would be grateful if you could share this survey with them. Thank you for your time and expertise. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or would like to discuss our project further!

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