Stroke can be quite a disabling disease if it is a serious case, and for those who have had the language centers of their brain impaired, even everyday things that we used to take for granted such as writing or typing e-mails end up being difficult tasks. Since necessity is the mother of all invention, an enterprising inventor decided to take one of Microsoft’s Kinect systems and developed an email interface based on it, so much so that his mom, a stroke victim, is able to send simple emails to her friends as well as family. You can view the hacked Kinect system in action above.
Chad Rubles is the brain behind this idea, where he did a dry run with an Arduino-based physical interface initially, but decided to throw in a more digital side to the system by creating a “Kinectified” software interface instead. The user interface has a virtual dashboard that carries with it a host of emoticons, a series of level or intensity buttons, and a green arrow and red X. You can then choose from one of the current crop of nine emotions, and when you arrive at the level of said emotion, generate and send the e-mail with said arrow. The red button refreshes the dashboard, and simple gestures are all that is required to get the job done. Nifty, no?
Microsoft’s Kinect system does seem to be one of the more flexible systems out there to be tinkered with, don’t you think so?