PROFESSOR STEPHEN HAWKING, FRS NEUROSWITCH ORIGINAL 001 Professor Hawking began Beta testing a prototype of NeuroSwitch in November 2002. In March 2003, he arranged for the prototype to be loaded onto his powered wheelchair, a high-tech mobile station that includes a custom-built Intel computer slab, mobile telephony, flat screen display and an audio system that broadcasts his trademark synthesized voice. The installation was done during Prof. Hawking's 2003 lecture tour of the USA at the Department of Physics at Texas A&M University. Prof. Hawking first learned he had the motor neurone disease ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - Lou Gehrig's disease) in 1963, when he was given only a few years to live. It is a tribute to his invincible will and resolve that he has ignored that prediction, and has for more than forty years used his remarkable intellect to contemplate and understand the origins and nature of space and time and expand human knowledge of general relativity and black holes. From the start, his testing of NeuroSwitch nerve-controlled technology was as robust as his scientific inquiries. Each time he tried it, he pushed it to its limits, and regularly it was necessary to go back to the design screens and rework the program codes. This often merciless acid test helped hone the system on several levels. The program had to be capable not only of providing a reliable switching system using nerve signals, it had to do so under extreme conditions, from incidents of neuromuscular fatigue to occurrences of erratic nerve signals caused by any number of stimuli from surprise and emotion to changing environmental conditions. NeuroSwitch has three unique, patented algorithms employing pattern recognition and fundamental artificial intelligence theories that enable it to be dynamically and interactively responsive to a person's changing neuromuscular conditions from split second to split second - unlike other programs that use EMG signals within certain ranges. NeuroSwitch enables a person to use their nerve signals precisely and accurately no matter how tired, erratic or stressed they may become at different times of the day and night. By late-2003, the system had evolved into a versatile nerve-controlled communications device. Then in January 2004, in an evolutionary innovation, the system was upgraded to include an electronic output interface, that - in addition to controlling programs - enabled it to control electronic devices and switches for lights, CD players, radios, TVs, telephones, environmental systems and robotics connected by cable, infrared or radio. These NeuroSwitch innovations changed the system from a potential competitor against every other form of Assistive Technology (AT) to an indispensable ally. Now hundreds of thousands of people whose disabilities until now inhibited them from using existing Assistive Technology may control current editions of every leading AT system of their choice in the world, using their own nerve signals. In April 2004, Prof. Hawking used his own nerve signals and NeuroSwitch to control his Possum Freeway communicator, and his Words+ Equalizer: the splendid communications system he has used for more than 20 years to write his academic papers and best-selling books. Words+ was created by Space Shuttle scientist Walt Woltosz and remains the premier Assistive Technology multi-media communications system in the world. Prof. Hawking has acknowledged Walt's work in a number of his books and publications. On Friday 18th June 2004, NeuroSwitch became fully operational: revolutionary, durable, reliable, versatile, and unmatched.