New app allows people with arm paralysis to use smartphones

South Korean researchers have developed an app that helps people with arm paralysis use smartphones.
The app, named Dowell, can assist those with muscular dystrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), stroke and other ailments that restrict movement.
The app has a user interface that works with a variety of input methods for disabled people, which are known as computer assistive devices.
It can receive information from a trackball mouse, head-tracking camera and mouth stick, which is a tool for manipulating a cursor with the mouth, according to 'pcworld.Com'.
"Until now, people with upper-limb disabilities have been limited to PCs if they want to use computers," said developer Ahn Hyun-jin, a student at Seoul National University's Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology.

In a demo, Ahn attached a small red sticker to his glasses and stood in front of a smartphone linked to a HeadMouse Extreme, a wireless optical sensor that can track the sticker, 'IDG News Service' reported.

He was able to navigate through the app's menus by moving his head from side to side, which controlled a cursor on the smartphone's screen. When the cursor dwells on a menu item for a second or two, that item is selected.
He repeated the demo with a trackball mouse, which is a large red sphere used by people with limited finger movement.

Ahn said eight disabled users tried out the app as part of its development and responded favourably to it, even though they had never used smartphones before.