ECTkeyboard is an AAC (Alternative and Augmentative Communication) program that allows individuals with reduced motor skills to type text letter-by-letter via pressing only one physical button.
The program can be coupled with eye tracking applications (ECTtracker), allowing to select characters in a text matrix through eye movements and blinking. It also supports direct input of characters from the virtual keyboard through contracting a muscle or a group of muscles, drawing the air (with ECTlistener) or other means available to people with limited motor skills.
The main window of the program is a text matrix with a set of symbols or pictograms, the appearance and the order of which can be customized by the user. ECTkeyboard allows to enter text using different methods : Step by step- mode , in which the program highlights one character after another , and the user selects the desired character through blinking or other accessible action; Coordinate mode ( when the selection is made horizontally and vertically) where the user first indicates the row or the column before selecting the desired character in them; Separating regime, where the entire text matrix gets divided in two, after being selected the part containing the desired letter splits in its turn, and so-on until a single character is selected ; Virtual keyboard mode allows to work with a mouse or another manipulator device. Operating modes are suitable for different groups of users with limited motor skills; all typed text is registered to a file. more
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