Typing on Ice

This is our hack for MLH sponsored hackathon, Hack the Valley.

The main goal of this project was to design a discrete method for people with motor control disabilities to type on a computer keyboard. A disability like Parkinson's or cerebral palsy can inhibit one's ability to accurately press keys, severely slowing down typing speed. Technologies to assist typing already exist but our intention was to make a solution that was as subtle as possible. We wanted our solution to require no extra hardware and or interface. The reason for this is to have users feel less self conscious about using assistive technologies. This social motivation can be very important for people with disabilities especially for children.

We decided on a a software that is similar to a swiping keyboard found on touchscreen phones but for a physical keyboard. The user physically glides their finger across keys from letter to letter to complete a word. This input is then translated to the intended word by the program. The user can then quickly hit 'Enter' to transfer the word directly to the text form or document in use. This method of typing is an improvement from a standard keyboard for people with low motor control. The user does not have to continuously and accurately press the correct keys all the time. Instead, the program ensures that the user has a much larger margin of error and makes it convenient to glide instead of type.

Built With

• python