Mouth-operated joysticks help people with disabilities
REGINA In the small, sunny building of Regina’s Crashbang Labs, nearly 20 volunteers gathered on Thursday to build devices that allow people with disabilities to use a smartphone or tablet with only their mouths.
Clustered around tables, volunteers used soldering irons to connect the necessary wires to arduino control boards following step-by-step instruction manuals. Once completed, the circuitry was put into its 3D printed body. These devices are called Lipsyncs.
“We did some practice with the soldering because lots of us haven’t done it before. I think that I haven’t soldered since I was probably in like Grade 8,” said Eryn Langdon, one of the volunteers.
“I’m a little shaky at it, but it’s good,” she said. “We get to make these and then people with disabilities who need this can use it, so it’s really cool.”
The event was put on by Makers Making Change, a Neil Squire Society program.
Kevin Smith, regional co-ordinator in the Prairies for Makers Making Change, said he’s done a number of these “build-a-thons,” all to make assistive technology for people with disabilities.
“I gave three (Lipsyncs) to the Wascana (Rehabilitation Centre) because they said, ‘We have people who come in here who are disabled, but they’re not going to stay disabled. They’re going to recover,’ ” he said.
“It doesn’t make sense to buy a $1,000, $1,500 item for them, but they can use these because they ’re free.”
The devices cost around $250 to build, said Smith, but Makers Making Change tries to find sponsors to cover the cost of the parts so they can donate the devices to those who need them.
He said around 17 Lipsyncs should be completed at this event, and he’ll be taking some to a rehabilitation centre in Saskatoon.
The Lipsyncs are sip-and-puff controllers, which means that people use different inhales (sips) and exhales (puffs) to move a computer cursor without having to use their hands. Lipsyncs are specifically designed for touch-screen devices like smartphones and tablets.
Smith said other sip-and-puff controllers are expensive and not mobile.
“Now we’re using smartphones and tablets, and they move constantly with us, and they use a different interface even than Windows does,” he said.
“This device is designed to go with you when you’re very mobile.”
The Lipsync plugs into the device with a USB and uses the smartphone or tablet battery. This frees the user from having to carry a separate power supply.