 The project: a "Custom Virtual Keyboard" for disabled persons
- The CVK is a virtual keyboard for motor-disabled persons. This project, which was the first to win the Foundation's Grant, is based on dedicated market research compiled by the students and proposes a solution that takes into account the specific needs of motor-disabled people. Drawing up the specifications was a real group effort, involving occupational therapists and patients from Garches hospital near Paris , as well as students and teachers from the In'Tech INFO (ESIEA group) school of engineering.
- The keyboard is a free of charge software application, scalable and customised, thus easy to use for people with severe motor disabilities (tetraplegics, people whose upper limbs are paralysed, people suffering from myopathy, amongst others)..
- It may therefore be customised for use by people with various types of disability, depending on the extent of their loss of function. The application displays a keyboard on the computer screen and, through the use of a mouse and/or contactors (switches), provides an alternative means of writing for those who cannot use a regular keyboard. They would also be able to type a letter in a word-processing program, surf the Internet or simply use their computer without help from another person. centres.
Implementation of the project
The keyboard is up and running and can be downloaded free of charge at www.cvk.fr. It can then be customised and configured for the user's computer and is therefore useful both to occupational therapists at a hospital and to patients and their families at home. There is also an on-line help function on the site. A second objective of the project is to develop new modules – thanks to the Open Source community, which has a forum on the site – and therefore create new and improved versions of the application, better suited to the changing needs of patients. The keyboard can be used by children, adults and elderly persons.
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