Kent State creation enables handicapped to turn PCs on / off
We've seen a smorgasbord of off the wall creations designed to help those with limited motor skills interact with the average PC, but a group of Kent State researchers have returned to square one and devised a more useful method of actually getting the computer turned on in the first place. The team, which including a graduate assistant who has quadriplegia, found the solution by "adding a jack to the back interior wall of the tower and paralleling it to the on / off circuit of the motherboard." Subsequently, any number of sip / puff switches (pictured device is for reference) could be attached to the jack in order to power the machine on without the use of one's hands or feet. Sadly, there was no mention of bringing such a useful creation to market, but with the right handyman, we're sure this project wouldn't be too hard to replicate on your own.[Via Physorg]
Filed under: Desktops
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
superbagman @ Jul 18th 2007 2:15PM
Awesome, I had a class with one of the researchers colleagues about a year ago and he told our class that they were also working on eye tracking technology to substitute the use of mice for quadriplegics. Very exciting.
Jason @ Jul 18th 2007 2:35PM
Their school motto is:
"Kent Read, Kent Rite, Kent State"
With that considered, this is a great invention.
JR @ Jul 18th 2007 2:42PM
Would piss me off when my cats started sniffing it.
lin @ Jul 18th 2007 2:45PM
The sip/puff is an Origin Instruments device. Perhaps the SIPP/PUFF is to avoid being sued by using the same name with different spelling and another company.
Who cares? That fact that it helps people shouldnt have to be challenged or explained.
Razor @ Jul 18th 2007 3:10PM
All they need now is a device like this that will do the CTRL-ALT-DEL reset.
Travis @ Jul 18th 2007 3:47PM
As a current undergrad student at Kent State, this makes me really happy to know that research done at the school I go to is really going to help people. As long as this thing can make it to market, that is.
ethana2 @ Jul 18th 2007 7:59PM
I hope they're not expecting these people to suffer through microsoft software. But then, this should be OS independent, right?
Argot @ Jul 18th 2007 9:18PM
And for the mentally retarted there is always Apple.
shakman @ Jul 19th 2007 6:32AM
The article doesn't mention it but the researchers at Kent State are currently working on another device codenamed the PUFF/PUFF/PASS
Zack @ Jul 19th 2007 12:02PM
This would probably be pretty cool for guitar pedals.
robaniz @ Jul 23rd 2007 11:18AM
"All they need now is a device like this that will do the CTRL-ALT-DEL reset."
Heh. I did a stint on a helldesk once & asked someone to press ctrl alt del - he said, 'I can't, I've only got one hand'. 'Oh. Bugger. Can you not use your nose, then?'