Although smartphones with touch have become pervasive, users with cerebral palsy or other conditions such as Parkinson’s disease (and there are 21 million people with those conditions, globally, according to The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) have trouble using standard touch systems. For this reason, students at the university have developed a ‘tremor absorbing’ software algorithm to help with touchscreen use. The potential disappearance of ‘blackberry-style’ keyboards is concerning users.
The group is looking to develop an app or license the ‘noise cancellation’ technology for inclusion in operating systems and believes it needs around $500,000 to develop the technology, according to the BBC.
Image on the left show the target (pink) and contact points (blue) for user with Parkinson’s while images on the right show the target (pink) and the result with the tremor absorber (yellow). Image:Yissum
