A team of UdG creates a new system to communicate over the Internet without using the keyboard

It is intended mainly for the elderly and disabled people

Clik'em. This is the name of a new system to communicate over the Internet without using the keyboard and using a touch screen, designed by the research group of computer vision and robotics at the UdG. He is currently in the process of marketing and is intended for the general public, but mainly for the elderly and the disabled. On the screen there will pictures of people with whom to communicate the user through the program may be made Skype calls and videoconferences.

The new product will be marketed in Spain by a company that created the group in Sant Feliu de Guixols. The advocates are the professors of the Polytechnic and Joaquim Salvi, Joan Batlle, and the goal is basically to provide an innovative service for people who have difficulty using current systems. "There are people with trembling hands, visually impaired or physically or mentally handicapped people who find it hard to communicate through a keyboard. The project we have developed is that everyone can communicate without complicated technology and with one click. On the screen you can put pictures of friends and family or social services that need to use, "said Batlle. Also presented as an alternative for people with hearing impairments to communicate by telephone.

Icons and pictures

The goal is that users have no computer knowledge can use this new product. We want to send the video to the group of elderly people and make them be who handle calls. The external design is based on icons and pictures, so the user simply touching it with one finger can manage all functions. Another purpose is to enhance the user's sense of closeness with the people who want to communicate.

Project Managers have found that in Spain there were, as of 1 January 2009, 5.5 million people over seventy years, which is the main sector in which the product is aimed.

Adapting it to TV

The advocates also want the project to adapt the new system to televisions. In this case, the requirement that the device would have a VGA input types that could communicate with the computer. If this input, it is increasingly common on new TVs, the device did not exist in which you want to adapt the system could find adapters signals, as stressed in the project description. The prototype's television adaptation is already underway and currently is studying the process of building in series.

The new system currently costs around 800 euros, even if television could be adapted to reduce power cost, he said Batlle. The added cost to the user will be the regular rate of Internet communication.

Source: El Punt
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