It is through the ACAT software ( Assistive Context-Aware Toolkit ) specially developed by Intel for him that Stephen Hawking was able to maintain a way of verbal communication while disease Charcot progressed beyond repair. This software is now available for free and open source . © Lwp Kommunikáció, Flickr, CC by 2.0
Stephen Hawking: ACAT its communication software, is open all – 2 Photos
Although it is very severely disabled by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) from which he suffers, Stephen Hawking has always maintained a public activity and media. There a few months, the scientist has also made its debut on Facebook by posting messages signed with his initials SH almost totally paralyzed, the specialist of black holes using a communication system specially developed for him by Intel. The program named Assistive Context-Aware Toolkit (ACAT) works in three steps. First, it detects visual signals relayed by sensors. These signals are used to control an interface to select letters to compose a word. A autocomplete software does predict the word the user wants to write. The text is then verbalized by a voice synthesizer.
In the case of Professor Hawking, the software reads the muscle contraction movements of one of his cheeks. Over time, Intel has expanded this development platform to make it more versatile, so that it can adjust to levels higher or lower handicap. The North American giant has just reached a new milestone by announcing that its software was now available to all as a free download via GitHub. Moreover, the code of ACAT is published in open source .
This screenshot shows how the ACAT software when paired with a webcam. The interface consists of three windows. The first is motion detection to certain areas of the face, materialized by colored rectangles. The green rectangle represents the muscular contraction of the cheek. This detection allows navigation in the second window that displays a virtual keyboard and a system Predictive deducts the words that the person wants to type. The text that appears in the Windows Notepad is then converted to speech through speech synthesis. © Intel
The program was designed to run on Windows XP and later. It can be combined with various types of sensors such as infrared switches (see the demo video released by Intel), cameras, pushbuttons or accelerometers. Anyone equipped with a Windows PC and a webcam (see Intel video) can therefore try ACAT. The idea is that the system can be adapted to the level of disability and even parts of the mobile body. In addition, ACAT does not allow to make only speech synthesis, it can also be used to control a computer, using software or browse the internet.
“Our hope is that by making open source this configurable platform, developers will continue the work by adding new interfaces, new sensors, they will improve the predictive system and many other features add “, says Intel. If ACAT theoretically free and accessible to anyone who wants to test it, it remains a tool that is intended primarily for researchers and developers. These can be used to improve the lives of people with dementia. But the technology could also have a wider scope serving as a basis for gestural interfaces without contact. Intel plans to collaborate with several universities to explore these possibilities
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