These are some of the visions spinning out of a record-setting $250 million gift announced this month to the University of Colorado system for the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities.

The endowment from California software entrepreneur Bill Coleman and his wife, Claudia, will fund an institute that will span CU's four campuses and a variety of disciplines, including health sciences, computer science and special education. The mission: to develop technologies to enhance the lives of people with mental retardation, autism, brain injuries and other cognitive disabilities.

The scope of technology that could help such people is as broad as the span of academic specialties that study such disabilities.

One example is the potential transformation of personal digital assistants - such as Palm Pilots - into "mobile social assistants" through the addition of Global Positioning System and cellular-phone technologies, says Michael Lightner, associate dean for special projects in CU-Boulder's College of Engineering and Applied Science. The hand-held device might track a cognitively disabled person who is waiting for a bus that is late, tell that person how long to wait and notify that person's employer.

Technology might help the disabled stick with an exercise regime by building a virtual community of exercisers. A person could enjoy the camaraderie of a health club without leaving home through a network of computers, cameras and the World Wide Web. He might be linked with others as they ride exercise bikes in the privacy of their homes; as they ride, they could watch their fellow exercisers or follow the same simulated landscape on their screens.

"It's a way to use the Web to help build a community that will then help support a regimen of exercise," Lightner says.

Technology can help not just the disabled but those who care for them. One system Lightner envisions could help caregivers or counselors track changes in everyday activities. Such changes in routine may signal that a mental-health problem is brewing.

If a high-tech system monitored the person's actions - what they ate, what they watched on TV, whether they exercised - those results could be accessed via computer by a counselor or caregiver during a visit, and potential problems could be addressed earlier.

Benefits of the technology that's being envisioned could spill over into all parts of society. Hopes for such broad use were embraced early on in discussions with the Colemans, says Gerhard Fischer, director of CU-Boulder's Center for LifeLongcq Learning and Design.

"While this work will be developed in the context of people with disabilities, the potential application is much broader," he says.

As an example, he points to the mobile social assistant, which could help not just the disabled but any traveler stranded in an unfamiliar city.

Another example is an e-mail system being developed at the center for people with disabilities. The goal is more independence for the disabled while avoiding the social isolation that such freedom can bring. But elements of the e-mail program, such as a talking computer, could be embraced by other users as well.

The institute will face many challenges in developing assistive technology, says Mark Dubin, a professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology at Boulder and a member of the Center for LifeLong Learning.

"There's a very high abandonment rate in the use of adaptive technologies because of the lack of fit to the individual, because of the unreasonable expectation on the part of the caregiver, because of the difficulty in using the product," he says.

"We need to use a tremendous sophistication behind the scenes to put foward something that is very simple."

One challenge is to develop technology that can adapt to a changing environment. Another is to create devices that can be used by various groups but is easily configured to meet a specific need.

"It's so important for any of us not to have the technology that we use frustrate us," Lightner says.

Coleman, a U.S. Air Force Academy graduate, and his wife are familiar with the frustrations faced by people with cognitive disabilities - they have a niece who is cognitively disabled from a chromosome disorder.

"Hopefully," he says, "we can build more and more ability to assist these people to be able to have at least a little bit more independence."