Hasta La Gadget!

Our favorite modder, Ben Heck, has come up with another cool creation. As he has done numerous times in the past, he has built a special controller to help the disabled to play video games. The modified gaming controller was requested by one of his viewers and as usual, he has delivered.

This accessibility controller lets gamers with use of only a single hand play PS4 games. All the buttons on the left side have been shifted and re-fitted on the right side, including the left analog stick, which was put on the back of the unit. Ben will reveal the build on an upcoming episode of his show, but the 40 second trailer here gives us a little tease.

This is going to make a lot of folks very happy. Keep an eye out on Element 14 for the full episode, which is expected to premiere later today.

[via BGR via New Launches]

All around the world there are a huge number of people who have been injured in automotive, leisure or industrial accidents, or were born with limited control over their bodies. There are a number of medical conditions that can make people unable to control their arms well enough to work the gadgets that many take for granted, such as tablets and laptops. Griffin has announced a new product specifically designed for those with physical challenges, to allow them to use today’s technology more easily. The product is called the Griffin MouthStick Stylus, and is designed to be held in the mouth using a food-grade stainless steel mouthpiece. That mouthpiece has latex free silicone rubber sleeves to protect the teeth. The shaft of the stylus is long and curved like a gooseneck and tipped with a conductive silicone tip. The stylus will operate the capacitive screens of smartphones, tablets, or other touchscreen devices. The stylus can also be used to type on a laptop keyboard and control other devices as well including the Apple Magic trackpad. The stylus will ship in Q2 for $29.99(USD) with replacement mouthpiece sleeves and silicone rubber tips available for a small charge.

Toyota has built the Human Support Robot, a 70 pound ‘droid designed to help the elderly and less-able around the home. The tablet-and-voice-controlled unit can open your curtains, fetch items and even pick up after you, thanks to its single telescopic arm that stretches up to 2.5 feet. A tablet slot on top of its head lets you use the hardware as a telepresence device, although we’re more interested in teaching it some attitude so we can live out our “sassy housekeeper” sitcom fantasies in peace.

Filed under: Robots

Toyota builds assistive robot to help the disabled around the home originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 13:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s a lot of research to help the spinal cord or stroke-injured become more self-sufficient, but it often takes some exotic paraphernalia. To buck that trend, scientists from Imperial College London showed that subjects could perform relatively hard tasks like writing messages and playing Pong using eye movement — with a mere $35-worth of parts. They even showed how well the system worked, with subjects scoring within 20 percent of an able-bodied person after a scant 10 minutes of practice. The tracker works with two video console cameras and a pair of eyeglasses that, after calibration, can precisely track the pupils — allowing them to control a cursor or move a paddle. The researchers also figured out how to “click” the eye-mouse by winking, and can even use more precise adjustments to calculate gaze depth — meaning subjects will be able to perform more complex tasks in the future, like guide a motorized wheelchair. While by no means the first eye-tracking system we’ve seen, it’s by far the most economical. Check the video after the break to see how it works.

Continue reading Researchers use off-the-shelf parts to let you write emails with your eyes (video)

Filed under: Science

Researchers use off-the-shelf parts to let you write emails with your eyes (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Jul 2012 08:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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