Pinch-zoom is a godsend (and shouldn’t be patent-able) and although we mourn the loss of a physical keyboard on a lot of device we use a tablet nearly as often as we do a full computer. But the touch screen interface is not open to everyone. Those who lack full dexterity of their digits will find the interface frustrating at best or completely unusable at worst. A team of researchers from the Atlanta Pediatric Device Consortium came up with a way to control touch-screen tablets with a sensor array that mounts on your arm.
The project — called Access4Kids — looks not only to make tablet use possible, but to use it as a means of rehabilitation. The iPad seen above is running a custom app designed for use with the sensor sleeve. The interface is explained in the video after the break. Each sensor can serve as an individual button, but the hardware can also process sequential input from all three as a swipe in one direction or the other. If they can get the kids interested in the game it ends up being its own physical therapy coach by encouraging them to practice their upper body motor skills.
[via DVICE]
If pinch-to-zoom shouldn’t be patent-able, how come no one came up with it first?
It seems someone did.
Although it’s not a final ruling, “The patent was struck down because the USPTO found prior art” http://readwrite.com/2012/12/20/another-apple-patent-gets-smacked-down-and-its-thermonuclear-war-becomes-even-more-of-a-farce
Benefitial= not a real word. You meant beneficial.
*thank you*! That bothered me the moment I saw it.
Hell I didn’t notice it, so I wasn’t bothered :) Probably one of those times a brain decodes what’s meant automatically. Curious I googled benifitial, and it seems others do the same, interesting opinions as to why.
That ‘iPad’ has ‘Samsung’ written on it…
Looks more like a Samsung running Android than an iPad.
Not having full functionality in my left side, went through the motions, I can see how while still limited, could be a good starting point. While the term open source isn’t used, it reads like it is in a limited manner. Limited because, they may not be using the resources of a larger community. Perhaps someone should encourage them to access the maker community at large. Unfortunately this could be a time the proudly worn badge of hacker could get in the way of doing something good.
About open source the makerbot in the back ground is an example of why I can’t agree the controversial (in the hacker community) decisions by Makerbot aren’t going to harm Makerbot, OR open source hardware. The world is full of people who only need a tool that will do the job they need to get done at a price they can afford, the story behind to tool is unimportant to their needs
Another blatant spelling error. Just one more day that I don’t click HAD adds.
Oh damn…