Week 14 - Accessibility
Accessibility
Lucy
On the same note as the forum topic mentioning eye tracking, I figured I would talk about something I have always been interested in for people with disabilities. I myself do not know any such people on a personal level, but I find this solution to be the neatest. I have always been interested in "eye tracking", but it can be a bit inaccurate at times, though I feel like it would be enough for most disabilities. However, there exists another solution as well, which works off the same principle. A specific example of this would be Lucy4. Pretty much equivalent to using eye tracking to control something, except instead of eyes, one uses their head! This is magnitudes more accurate than eye tracking and would even enable people with ticks (involuntary head control) to be able to accurately give input, lest the ticks are really extremely major.
Probably one of the main disadvantages I've encountered with eye tracking when I tested it was that it is really exhausting to use - it requires calibration and constantly keeping yourself in a very specific position so that the camera can actually track your eyes. Using something like a laser pen instead would allow the user to relax whenever they want instead of stress themselves out even more. It can be attached to whatever body part necessary, though it is meant for use with the head. It wouldn't really be as distracting as using voice commands (for an office environment, for example), and despite being made for keyboard input, it's.. it's a laser pointer. Come on. It's perfect for a mouse - a consistent hovering over an element could trigger a click or there could be some kind of external trigger (Probably the hardest part to figure out - how would someone left/right click with a laser pen?).
The problems with this though are the extra monitor required and the huge price tag, which makes literally no sense. It's a laser pointer with a screen that catches the laser. This should not be costing two thousand dollars, and I feel like any amateur who wants to set their mind to it could create something very similar at a much lower price point, which is something I feel like is kind of.. disgusting. Trying to gouge people with disabilities to pay more for something that really isn't worth its price tag in terms of functionality - yet not a lot of people think about these designs and cheaper alternatives are hard to come by.
However, I still cannot honestly imagine a more solid generic solution than something akin to a trackable laser that could be attached to any accurately movable body part (It doesn't even have to be that accurate, and it can definitely be very easily configurable). Despite all that, more specific solutions can still easily knock it out of the park if the user gets accustomed to them. My favourite example of such is a disabled CSGO person who has no hands, but is still really good at the game. Seeing him was probably my first gateway into looking at accessibility - he isn't even really using any significant accessibility solutions! (Given that he has to be able to use several functions effectively, as well as accurately control his movement and aim) [2].
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