rarchamb@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Mad Max) (07/18/90)
Hi, my father is an engineer who has been stricken with ALS (also known as Lou Gherig's disease...... what Stephen Hawking has) and is interested in something that would let him control a CAD cursor with facial muscles or limited finger movement. Something that would emulate a mouse, basically. We've heard of some things that allow a person to move the cursor with their eyebrows and eye-movement. Could you PLEASE e-mail me if you have any info on what's out there. Thanks
wtm@bunker.UUCP (Bill McGarry) (07/19/90)
In article <26a3a7ff.1865@petunia.CalPoly.EDU> rarchamb@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Mad Max) writes: > > >Hi, my father is an engineer who has been stricken with ALS (also >known as Lou Gherig's disease...... what Stephen Hawking has) and >is interested in something that would let him control a CAD cursor >with facial muscles or limited finger movement. Something that >would emulate a mouse, basically. We've heard of some things that >allow a person to move the cursor with their eyebrows and >eye-movement. Could you PLEASE e-mail me if you have any info on >what's out there. Thanks There are several products that he could use. As a starting place, contact the IBM National Support Center for Persons with Disabilities. P.O. Box 2150 Atlanta, GA 30301 (800) 426-2133 (Voice) (800) 284-9482 (TDD) They distribute several resource guides of which one is for Mobility Impairments. I have it on line here but it is nearly 300 K long. Give them a call and they will mail it to you in printed form. They should also be able to give you some ideas and suggestions. Good luck, [no save] Bill McGarry (203) 337-1518 UUCP: {oliveb, philabs, decvax, yale}!bunker!wtm INTERNET: l-hcap@vm1.nodak.edu BITNET: l-hcap@ndsuvm1.bitnet Fidonet: The Handicap News BBS (141/420) 1-203-337-1607 (300/1200/2400 baud, 24 hours) Compuserve: 73170,1064
frazier@ttidca.TTI.COM (Kent Frazier) (07/19/90)
In article <26a3a7ff.1865@petunia.CalPoly.EDU> rarchamb@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Mad Max) writes: > > >Hi, my father is an engineer who has been stricken with ALS (also >known as Lou Gherig's disease...... what Stephen Hawking has) and >is interested in something that would let him control a CAD cursor >with facial muscles or limited finger movement. Something that >would emulate a mouse, basically. We've heard of some things that >allow a person to move the cursor with their eyebrows and >eye-movement. Could you PLEASE e-mail me if you have any info on >what's out there. Thanks There are a couple of devices that might be worth looking into, that track where the eye is looking. The Eyegaze System (TM) from LC Technologies, Inc. 4415 Glenn Rose Street Fairfax, VA 22032 1-800-733-5284 703 425 7509 FAX 703 323 4782 Their literature states "The purpose of the Eyegaze System is to enable severely disabled people to do many things with their eyes that they would otherwise do with their hands. Simply by looking at control keys displayed on a computer monitor screen, the user can perform broad variety of functions including speech synthesis, environmental control (controlling lights, appliances, tvs, etc.), playing games,typing, operating a telephone, and running most DOS-compatible software." "To use the Eyegaze System ... a person should have good control of at least one eye. He should be able to move his gaze freely over the full range of the computer monitor screen. To select and activate the various keys, he should be able to fix his focus at any desired position on the screen for about 2/3rds of a second. ... In most cases, eyetracking works with glasses and contact lenses." The company is also working on (maybe even released) a head tracking system, designed to compensate for poor head control or spasticity. Note: I have not used or seen this system in action, and know about it only from product literature. The second product is from ISCAN, INC. 125 Cambridge Drive P.O.Box 2076 Cambridge, MA 02238 (617) 868-5353 It functions similarly to the above mentioned device, though ISCAN is apparently targeting a different marketplace (weapons pointing systems, simulator displays, and human factors assessments). I do have some experience with this system (though not a lot yet), but my initial impression is that it performs pretty much as specified. Other than being a new (and novice) user I have no connection with ISCAN. Hope this helps.