Students developed an inexpensive system to replace mouse and keyboard
Inexpensive system that will allow you to control your computer without using mouse or keyboard, just by using facial ex.pressions, head movements and voice commands, has been developed by students from Rzeszów University of Technology. The system is designed for people with disabilities and paralysed patients.
The authors of the Face Controller - team Power of Vision from Rzeszów University of Technology won first place in the category "Social Projects" in the Polish edition of Imagine Cup. It is the world\'s largest technology competition for students, organized by Microsoft.
Face Controller is created for people with disabilities, especially with paralysis, who are not capable of using a mouse or keyboard. The system allows to move the cursor on the screen using head movements. Opening the mouth works as a mouse click, and using voice, users can type individual words or sentences on the virtual keyboard, or to spell a given sequence of characters. The prototype version of the system is already operational, it has been presented during the Polish finals of the competition.
According to team Power of Vision, until now on the Polish market there have been only very expensive solutions for the paralysed people. These systems have not always been comfortable for the user - for example, it was necessary to attach special markers to the body that would help devices to recognize the user\'s movements.
Meanwhile, Face Controller uses commercially available Kinect system. It is a motion sensor commonly used in console games. To use the Face Controller, you do not need expensive or difficult to obtain equipment, or glue markers onto the body. A device set next to the computer will detect head movements and facial expressions.
Team members assured that the platform could be adapted to the capabilities and needs of the user. "A disabled person will be able to configure the device without help" - said Piotr Wrotny of team Power of Vision in an interview with PAP.
The team has not finished work on the system yet, and they want to continue to develop it. "To release a product, we need to be sure that this is exactly what we strive for. While our system is already up and running, we are trying to improve the design and make sure no one had any reason to complain" - said Wrotny. He added that one of the objectives is to develop the solutions that will benefit people with various forms of disability. "We focus on maximum versatility of the solutions" - he said. He expressed hope that in the future, the Face Controller platform would allow to communicate only through vision. This, however, depends on the specifications of the next versions of Kinect.
The platform can be used with various computer programs, but the Power of Vision team members also want to develop apps that will allow for optimum use of the system, such as a version of Facebook for people with disabilities.
Team members are: Sylwia Perykasza, Norbert Pisz, Daniel Pomianek, Tomasz Pleśniak, and Piotr Wrotny was responsible for interface design. Mentor of the team is Tomasz Kapuściński. Power of Vision is one of the Polish teams that will compete in the Imagine Cup world semi-finals, taking place online in May. World Finals are scheduled for July in Seattle in the United States.
PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland, Ludwika Tomala
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