OVERVIEW
Overview
Elderly people often suffer from conditions such as arthritis, this can cause huge pain when trying to use small remotes, gripping these small remotes, and pressing hard on the small buttons can aggravate the users joints, and prove hard to do so.
My Role
Research Lead, Programming Lead
Length
3 Months
Tools
MPLAB IDE, DesignSpark
Team
University Project with a partner
My Contribution
I took the role of the researcher and main designer, the programming and electronic hardware stage of the project was a 50:50 split with my partner.
RESEARCH
Needs
A new method of controlling which will get rid of controllers is needed, the method needs to remove the interaction with small, hard to press buttons. The solution uses a glove, which removes the need for buttons, replacing the individual buttons with sweeping actions and finger gestures.
Overseeing some structured interviews with potential users led to some key insights and quotes to take forward into the persona.
Easy ways to type search criteria without repetitive button presses.
Accessible to all users with dexterity problems
Use a range of sensors to detect movement
Settings for gestures must be easily changed.
The prototype glove was designed, coded and built from scratch, it uses a series of components including accelerometers, hall sensors, LEDs and an LCD, with over 900 lines of C code. The final product created is an early prototype, made with limited time and resources to show off the functionality only.