Hands-free interface lets those with disabilities access smart tech

Tecla is an interface that allows disabled users to control smart devices handsfree using their existing assistive switches.

We’ve seen numerous tech enabling people with disabilities to communicate with others, such as I.am.here, which translates paralyzed users’ brainwaves into communicable emotions. Canada-based Komodo has developed a device that helps disabled people access smart tech, too.

Komodo’s Tecla is a portable device that connects a user’s assistive switch with their iOS or Android smartphones and tablets. When a person has limited upper-body mobility, assistive switches such as blink-recognition software and wheelchair-mounted joysticks are provided to allow them to communicate depending on their unique abilities. But these equipment don’t connect directly with smartphone hardware. Tecla works with all assistive switches on the market including buttons, sip-and-puff controllers, head arrays, joysticks and the driving controls of a wheelchair, so users can make and end phone calls, read e-books, manipulate apps that control equipment around the house, and more. Tecla is portable and has a continuous battery life of one week.

Available from CAD 349, Tecla is allowing those with disabilities access the benefits of smart devices. Will the Internet of Things produce further apps helping those with disabilities?