Saturday, June 30, 2007

Free Software for Eye and Head Tracking


Boston College's Eagle Eye Program has available for download the following games and application for use with their or other Eye and Head Tracking programs:

Games

Aliens - shoot the aliens before they disappear
Blackjack - classic card game
Bug Sprayer - spray the bugs as they get bigger and bigger
Connect 4 - get four in a row before your opponent
DressMe - mix and match the doll's clothes
Eagle Paint - create a beautiful work of art
Matching Game - game of concentration
Othello - capture more colored discs than your opponent
Pong - virtual table tennis
Question Game - create your own multiple-choice quizzes
Tic Tac Toe - get three in a row

Spell and Speak

EE Onscreen Keyboard - keyboard utility that works with cut-and-paste and direct input
Midas Touch - modified keyboard designed for EE and CM
Rick Hoyt Speller - select each letter by its group
Staggered Speech - spell and speak utility

System
Applications Manual - description of useful applications
Chat Client - connect to talk and play with other EE and CM users
Eagle Scope - configuration utility for EE
EE Browser - web browser designed for EE and CM
EE Connect instructions - how to use the EE Connect program
EE Connect update - downloaded updated EE Connect files
EE CM Software Manual - discription of available software for CM

No word official word on when CameraMouse will be available for free download, but it should be any day now!

3 comments:

  1. Looking forward to the CameraMouse software becoming available.

    Tried some of the free games and can't say I was very impressed. Lots require key presses (e.g. Space bar to start one game and Ctrl+N for another) - seems a bit strange.

    A better range (in my oppinion) can be found here:

    http://www.game-accessibility.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=32

    Thanks for the great posts though, Kate!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree that the button press and less than elegant graphics are not up to par. Perhaps I should have introduced these games better. They are designed to be played as a teaching tool. The teacher and student - usually a student with some level of developmentally delay - are supposed to play side by side. The teacher is supposed to be taking data on the students progress in using the head tracker. Do the student understand cause and effect? Does the student understand directional concepts (left, right, up down, over, under, above, below)? How long can the student participate without fatigue? What is the students frustration tolerance?

    The games are very simple and progressive and are supposed to be "failure free". For example the "Aliens" game will be won eventually because the student will accidentally shoot all of the aliens sooner or later, this because of the fact that the aliens do not move, which is unheard of in other shooting games. The games are very basic by design. They focus on one skill at a time and have huge "pay off" in terms of video/sound rewards for hitting a target. My students, for example, found all of the games in the Head tracker list too difficult, even with CPU killer. Those games were not only too difficult for them to use when just learning how to control the head tracker, but too difficult for those with certain levels of intellectual impairment to understand. The Boston College software is not designed for the user of a head tracker who has average to genius intellect, but for children who have mental retardation. I had seen all these games at a conference and am thrilled to be able to use them for my students. They are comparable to pricey switch games for the type of learners I work with. And trust me, those switch games are incredibly boring for teachers and others. Check out Laurette Creature Features.

    -Kate

    ReplyDelete
  3. I know this was many years ago, but I'm very interested in accessing the Rick Hoyt Speller, but it seems the link is unavailable? Am I suppose to click on it to try it out? Please let me know. Thanks so much!

    ReplyDelete

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