SBIR Phase I: Open hardware and software platform to enable configuration and control of IoT devices for people with disabilities

The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to improve the access of people with disabilities to the growing ecosystem of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, thus improving their ability to be independent, connect with others, seek and retain education and employment, and contribute to society both economically and socially. In particular, nearly 20 million US citizens live with disabilities affecting upper limb movement, thus impacting their ability to configure and control devices around the home. This project aims to develop an open platform that allows these consumers customized control of their home devices, using assistive input controls such as adaptive joysticks, sip-and-puff inputs, chin switches, or eye gaze, as well as off-the-shelf consumer input devices such as trackpads or mice. The proposed project would advance the consumer Internet of Things (IoT) landscape by enabling end user programmability for IoT applications, giving end users (non-programmers) the ability to modify, control, and automate their devices and services. Our system will draw on a newly patented device control architecture with novel customizability and intuitive access to non-programmers. The use cases supported by the platform would previously have required engineers to spend days or weeks of dedicated time building custom solutions for users; instead, the platform will make these use cases available to non-technical users on a wide scale without requiring custom engineering. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.