Technology Lends A Hand

Posted on August 30th, 2009 at 6:23 pm by Akhyari

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By Anissa S. Febrina

Imagine a life without books or computers. Now, imagine a life full of them but where you don’t have the sight to read the pages or the physical ability to make a mouse click.

Imagining either scenario is equally difficult for most of us, but the latter is reality for people with disabilities.

Two recent innovations from groups of student at private university Bina Nusantara might give them the keys to open the door to that wealth of knowledge and information that many of us often take for granted.

In the blink of an eye: Thanks to Eye-B-PoD, new locally designed software to make technology more accessible for people with disabilities, the computer pointer can be controlled using eye movements and blinks. (JP/Anissa Febrina)

Eye-B-PoD is new locally designed software (developed by Stanley Audrey Kosasih, 22) to make technology more accessible for people with disabilities, the computer pointer can be controlled using eye movements and blinks.

Working with two colleagues, Josephine Klara and Victor Kurnia, what Stanley has developed is computer software that will help users operate pointers at the screen with eye movements, without infra red or other features that would expose the user to certain types of radiation.

The program detects the face and eye as captured by the camera, translates their movements and blinks into a language that the computer will understand as the command to move the cursor and open the icons that are focused on.

Without requiring additional apertures, Eye B-PoD allows users to operate a computer at a more affordable price, assuming they have access to one equipped with a webcam.

“The innovation is not entirely a new thing in the development of devices for people with disabilities, but most of the existing ones cost at least US$100. “For one which operates on the Windows operating system, we set the price of Rp 100,000 [$10]. We also plan to develop an open-source Linux-based type,” Stanley explained.

Source: The Jakarta Post

Thanks RI_54 for sharing!

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