Many of us agree that eating is one of life’s pleasures. Sitting down to a delicious meal with cherished friends or family is as about as life-affirming as it gets but what happens if you have a difficulty in eating independently?
Luckily there are a number of products that can assist with eating. A new product called Obi works by automating the movement of the human arm, allowing the user to select food of their choice and dictate the pace at which the food is fed to them.
Obi allows the caregiver to quickly position the device for optimal use and modify the food delivery location for each user.
The Obi plate consists of 4 individual food compartments. The obi arm is controlled by two switches, one switch controls the compartment Obi picks up from and the other switch then picks up the food. The plate can be easily removed and cleaned and is also microwavable. Weighing just over 3 kilos and being equipped with a built-in rechargeable battery means that it can be taken anywhere
The distributor in Ireland is O’Neill Healthcare Ltd.
The good: Simple for the user to operate and it works really well.
The not so good: At €5,000, it’s a big price tag.
The verdict: If you can source the budget, it will give great independence around mealtimes.