For $50, EyeWriter Enables Impossible Creativity

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/6376466[/vimeo]

For those who are less fortunate with regards to body function, doing something they love poses challenges. Consider Tony Quan, a graffiti artist based in Los Angeles, who lost movement of virtually all muscles in his body except his eyes. For him, drawing graffiti became impossible. That is, until EyeWriter came along.

EyeWriter, desgined by Zach Lieberman from the Graffiti Research Lab, was created with the hopes of restoring Quan’s ability to create graffiti art. After much hard work and creativity, EyeWriter grew from nothing and is now enabling its users to create art with only their eyes. But even more amazing is the price tag: it is only $50, while similar technology costs well over $10,000.

It is, in theory, a simple device. EyeWriter is nothing more than a Web cam that is mounted to a wire frame and glasses. Eye movements are then tracked and synced to the screen with custom made and open source software.

The results are simply remarkable.

While this isn’t the fastest nor most efficient method of creating art, EyeWriter enables those who have lost hope to do something that they love, and that is priceless in our books.

“We’re not in it to make money,” Liberman said. “This is really coming from the heart.”

For all those who are seriously paralyzed — like Tony Quan — this is an amazing product. It reminds us about how technology can be used for things greater than we ever imagined. Hopefully this projects expands further to allow those suffering from ALS to accomplish even more.

[via: NPR]