Augmenting Lives Through Artificial Intelligence
Technology has proven to be a demonstrably powerful tool in helping people living with disabilities to live truly autonomous lives. In the world today, rapid advancements in areas such as artificial intelligence and machine learning have meant that empowering those affected by disabilities is easier than ever before. Frasil, is the realised dream of founder, inventor, and visionary Fran Killoway. Discover how the firm is changing lives in radical ways.
Modern technology is often judged for its ability to fundamentally change lives for the better, and to make daily activities that much easier. A time-tested proposition, other major advances have met the same criteria and remain in usage today. Professor Stephen Hawking, for example, had his life radically changed by disability. Technology provided him with a method of not only communicating, but continuing his research and remaining one of the world’s foremost scientific thinkers. Initiatives and innovations that have advanced the discussion around technology and what it can achieve are happening constantly throughout the world, but one Sydney-based firm is bringing it back to a more humane level.
Seeking to enrich the lives of those affected by disability, Frasil offers a range of companion solutions integrated into a comprehensive platform that is designed to lend a helping hand to those most in need. Accessibility is a huge thing for people whose lives are affected by disability. Frasil is the technology that makes the world infinitely more accessible for people, through a wide variety of online tools and programmes that encourage connection. It is a browser-based solution that continuously empowers individuals in connecting and engaging with communities around them.
Akin to an AI-powered humanoid, Frasil enables people living with disabilities to express their needs to a digital companion. More than power, or control, or the ability to connect, the humanoid offers its users a choice. Many who suffer with disabilities have little choice in their lives, but the Frasil platform offers that choice back to them, for the things that matter. It truly is a life-enhancing and augmentative piece of technology, that fulfils the responsibility and necessity of looking after those most vulnerable in society.
Despite the abundance of development currently happening in the technology industry with regards to artificial intelligence and machine learning, there is little available that is suited for use by people living with disabilities. In order to ensure a personalized experience for each user, regardless of disability, mobility, or capability, Frasil’s platform capitalises on artificial intelligence and machine empathy to create something the world has not seen or heard of before. The malleability and learning capacity of the platform is exemplified by the individualization of the AI for each user. Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all solution, it learns from the user to offer a more tailored service.
In order to achieve this level of personalization for each user that comes into contact with Frasil, the platform operates with a preference engine. Each user is asked a series of questions, so that the system can switch and transform to match the user’s specific needs and requirements. This only adds to the uniqueness of the platform, and the brilliance of its design and capability. Even if there were more than one hundred million concurrent users, the platform humanoid would still deliver a distinctly personalized feature to every single user.
Powered by a Machine Empathy engine, Frasil includes twelve apps that are all designed to bring people with disability into the community that already exists around them. Through an AI machine empathy engine-powered platform, the firm is helping disabled people connect to the Internet and express themselves like never before. The world is at their fingertips, with apps such as MyEntertainment which can connect people to search functions, social media and streaming services, and MyHome, which allows them to control devices, windows, doors, lights, and appliances around a home.
More than simply connecting to entertainment and communication services and devices in the home, Frasil is a companion for those struggling with disability. MyFeelings allows users to stay how they are feeling at any given moment, whilst MyNeeds enables them to communicate urgent needs that are immediate. MyVoice means that Frasil will speak for users when they cannot, and MySelf allows them to say exactly what physical assistance they require. More than just a browser-based solution or companion app, Frasil is a lifechanging piece of technology that means those living with disability do not have to be disconnected any more.
However, just as the success of Frasil as a proprietary technology is truly monumental, the dedication, determination, and commitment of its owner and founder is just as inspiring. Prior to establishing the firm, CEO Fran Killoway spent two decades of her life learning about and endeavouring to understand artificial intelligence through working with some of the largest multinational corporations in the world. However, in the midst of her exciting and vibrant career, Fran took a three-year break from corporate life due to personal reasons.
Returning in 2010, Fran was more determined than ever to translate her knowledge around the potential of artificial intelligence into real, tangible solutions to help enhance the lifestyle of those people living with disabilities. That determination resulted in the formation of Frasil Group in 2014, a firm built to commercialize artificial intelligence and create solutions for people living with disabilities. Solutions that don’t just help address some of the biggest areas in their lives, but also the small ones; the things that people without disabilities often take for granted. Expressing emotion, or turning on a television can be hard for certain people with disabilities, but Frasil is aimed at helping solve those issues.
Fran’s unwavering commitment and dedication to helping people living with disabilities has seen her firm grow from strength to strength in the last six years. However, her desire to see the industry has also seen her own journey continue into new areas. Fran has also strived to use her innovation in other areas where care is so necessary for those who struggle to care for themselves. Children, young people, disabled people; Fran understands better than most the need to help protect people using the latest developments in game-changing technology.
Ultimately, Fran is not only an exceptional leader; she is an outstanding human being. Taking some of the most innovative and intuitive technology in the world, she has overseen the creation of technology that gives a quality of life back to those who require it most. Frasil epitomizes Fran’s goal of making a tangible difference in society by empowering the disabled to take part in their day to day activities seamlessly.
Frasil’s platform puts the power and control back into the hands of the disabled person using it. Whether it’s streaming their favourite music through Spotify, turning down the lights around the house, the smart connections that Frasil offers enables even the most immobile of disabled individuals to have complete control. It can even be used for communicating with friends and family members, or perhaps requesting assistance from support workers. As well as entertainment and communication uses, Frasil can be used for more everyday purposes. It can notify those around them about what they would like to eat, or perhaps what they might prefer to wear on a day to day basis.
Boasting a meritorious portfolio of application functionalities, Frasil’s platform is truly intuitive and innovative. The interface can even be customized based on preferences and necessities to ensure that it retains its navigability. Each of the apps is designed to ensure that any disabled person who picks the app up can have their complex tasks made easy in terms of accessibility. Fran’s commitment to help people living with disabilities has never wavered, and seeing the platform come to life in helping people experience real-life miracles is nothing short of excellent. This outstanding, exceptional, humane leader understands what it means to be connected, and strives to reach that goal for everyone.
For wheelchair users who cannot access the windows, Frasil can help. For those who are unwell and require immediate assistance, the browser-based solution makes communicating those needs to support workers easier than ever before. As well as being designed for users, the company is extending these capabilities to parents, helping look after children whilst having the freedom that both parties need.
Regardless of computer literacy, cognitive capability, or dexterity, almost every person with a disability can make full use of the innovative power of Frasil. There is an estimated 15-20% of the world’s population currently living with disabilities. That’s between 1 and 1.5 billion people, suffering with all manner of disabilities. Down Syndrome, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis, autism, and veterans affected by war; the potential to help all these people through Frasil is massive. It starts with an intuitive interface that everyone can navigate.
Both the applications and operational system are easily navigable and intuitive, to ensure that everyone using Frasil can do so without stress or worry. Simple and clear directions can help users communicate exactly what they want, when they want to communicate it. Frasil also have the capability to pick up and discern human characteristics and nuances that are unique to each individual user. Capitalising on its own empathy-based and intelligent algorithms, the system can help across the entire spectrum of disability.
Innovation really comes into the frame once users look under the surface of Frasil, to the technology within. Based on a breakthrough neural network intelligence platform, the browser-based platform operates with a truly unique ability; to learn from its user and grow with that individual. Being able to tailor services to an individual based on data from a learning machine represents not just a huge step forward in caregiving, but in technological advancement as a whole.
Ultimately, the exceptionality of Frasil’s work simply cannot be overstated. With so many people living with disability, reaching them isn’t a responsibility; it’s a necessity. Fran Killoway and her team have already made powerful strides in the right direction, but the journey is by no means over. The fight to offer those living with disabilities even more expressiveness goes on. In the immortal words of Fran herself, “It’s not just about showing those with disabilities what the world has to offer, it’s about showing the world what they have to offer.
