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Georgia Tech. Ayanna Howard (right) and Hae Won Park (left) model the Access4Kids device that allows kids with fine motor impairments to control a tablet.
Even those who consider themselves particularly coordinated will no
doubt have been guilty of a misplaced tap here or a badly timed swipe
there when using touchscreen devices. But spare a thought for children
with fine motor impairments who are essentially excluded from the
touchscreen device world and all its educational, entertainment and
social benefits. A new device called Access4Kids aims to bring this
world within reach of such users.
While there are various technologies available that bring control of
traditional computer platforms to those with motor impairments, the
explosion in the use of touchscreen devices has caught many by surprise
and left children with fine motor impairments on the sidelines.
Developed by Ayanna Howard, professor of electrical and computer
engineering, and graduate student Hae Won Park at Georgia Tech,
Access4Kids is a wireless input device that uses force-sensitive
resistors to measure pressure from physical movements and converts them
into fine-motor gestures to control a tablet.
Aimed at children lacking the ability to touch a specific small
region of a touchscreen with the appropriate amount of force and timing
required for press and swipe gestures, the current prototype device
includes three force-sensitive resistors, which the child hits or swipes
with their fist. Various combinations of hits or swipes are translated
into different “touch-based” commands that are relayed to the tablet.
Supporting open-source apps and software also developed at Georgia
Tech gives users access to off-the-shelf apps, such as Facebook and
YouTube, as well as custom-made therapy and education apps.
In its current form, the device can be worn around the forearm or
placed on the arm of a wheelchair, but Howard is working on a second
prototype that includes wireless sensors that can be placed anywhere a
child is able to hit them, such as with a foot or the side of the head.
The first prototype has already received positive feedback from
typically developing children and children with disabilities alike, as
well as caregivers. User trials for the second prototype are set to
begin soon with Howard hoping to start clinical trials early in 2013.
“We can’t keep it in the lab,” Howard said. “It doesn’t make sense
for me to have one child, one at a time look at it and say ‘Hey that’s
really cool’ and not have it out there in the world. The real goal is to
make it safe and efficient so someone can make it into a commercial
product.”
