Many hacks are, of course, interesting in their own right. Hacks like this one, however, fulfill a much greater purpose by helping people overcome their disabilities. The PixBoard is “an illuminated board adapted for disabled people, especially for people with cerebral palsy, giving them access to games using shift technology.”
This device was developed for a girl that has cerebral palsy and can’t control her arms or legs effectively. In order to interact with the world more effectively to play board games and the like, this system was developed. The PixBoard scans an 8×8 matrix of LEDs allowing her to select the piece to be moved and where to move it. This is done using only simple buttons and the processor’s timer.
The system is controlled using an Arduino, so anyone is free to create their own games for this system depending on the situation. The following video is in Spanish, but shows this device in action around 1:20.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_AF6t9jtK8&w=470&h=349%5D
For another hack helping the disabled, check out this laser guided wheelchair.
I honestly dont understand how one phyisically interacts with this controller…
can anyone explain a little more? Is it just cycling through options to explore a decision tree?
no comprende.
I think it’s stephen hawking style press a button to start cycling press a button to stop cycling selected a row then it cycles through the coloumns and you press it again to stop the individual led
i think
The person can interact with (what seems to be) a push button, the leds cycle in different ways so the user can select in witch way he wants to make the move.
The hack itself is really amazing, and the idea of using arduino it’s perfect because if this become popular, a lot of free games will be created and those who can’t play with regular videogames, will be able to have fun with electronic games!
Exactly, the user has a button in the wheel chair and can push it with the head, for example (in other cases with the mouth, toe…), selecting with row and with column… You have more videos in the web site (links).
Thanks :)