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Martine Kempf was born in Strasbourg, Alsace, France. At
the age of 2 she already seemed to agree with Napoleon who said: "Victory belongs to
the most persevering". |
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| She received most of her education at Waldorf schools in France and Germany. She
graduated from high school at the Lycee Francais d'Athenes in Greece. |
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In 1982, while studying astronomy at the University of Bonn, she designed
in her spare time a speech-recognition control system to improve the life of disabled
people. She was motivated by her father, Jean-Pierre Kempf, who
after being stricken by polio at the age of two, devoted his life to the adaptation of
cars for disabled drivers. She called her voice-control system: Katalavox. |
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In 1984 the Siemens company in conjunction with the German Ministry of
Research and Technology sent her to Japan to present her Katalavox installed in a Mercedes
190E equipped for disabled drivers. |
| 50 electric functions, including the opening of the driver's door, the adjustment of
the mirrors, the radio controls, the shifting of the automatic gear-box, the wiper,
lights, horn, turn-signals,... were voice-activated. |
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| In October 1985 Martine left her home-country France and came to America, "the
land of opportunity", to start her own business, Kempf-Katalavox
in Sunnyvale, CA. |
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In 1987, the town of Dossenheim-Kochersberg named a street
"Rue Martine Kempf". |
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| Martine and her invention are mentioned in several books. |
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