HAIL Software for Disabilities

Inspiration

Technology is rapidly becoming a crucial part of everyday lifestyle, but not enough attention is focused on making it accessible to disabled members of society. We wanted to leverage the power of computing to ensure these individuals would not be left behind.

What it does

We made a set of two easy to use applications – a practical Gmail Interface and a fun Space wars game – and implemented camera mouse so that these applications could be used hands free (through visual recognition) by disabled individuals. The Gmail interface connects to the user's Google account, allowing them to read messages from their inbox and compose new emails which they can send to friends, family, and colleagues. The Space wars game is a fun application we created for the user's entertainment, which allows them to control a spaceship, shoot a variety of lasers and homing missiles, and use a shield. It allows for local multiplayer so two players can play on one system, one using the camera mouse or keyboard, and the other using the keyboard.

How we built it

We built the HAIL Gmail interface (heirarchal adaptable interface layout) using HTML, Javascript, and CSS. We built the Space Wars game using Python. We paired these applications with an app called camera mouse.

Challenges we ran into

At first we had trouble with seamlessly integrated the Gmail API, but after some trial and error and looking through documentation we were able to figure it out.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are very proud to be supporting the disabled community and helping them be as active as anyone in society. As some of our own family members are disabled, this meant a lot to us.