Accessing the iPad: Mouthsticks and Styluses
Paul's handsplint, showing the Pogo Stylus attached with black velcro.
I can move my right arm reasonably well but I have no triceps, wrist, or finger movements. I can use an iPod Touch with one of the knuckles on my right hand but not very well as it isn’t particularly precise. This is where the Pogo Stylus comes in handy. The body of the Pogo Stylus uses what appears to be some type of aluminum that detects the electrical impulses that the skin produces. So as long as your skin is making contact with even the smallest portion of the stylus it will work perfectly fine with an iPod Touch (or an iPhone and iPad) in the same way the tip of a finger would. For able-bodied people this offers more precise control than what a finger can provide, particularly if you have thick fingers. However if you can’t hold the stylus what are you to do?
If, like me, you have some movement in your arms you need to find a way to attach the stylus to your hand so at least a small portion of it makes contact with your skin. In my case I have splints that I wear on my hands at all times. So I basically had somebody attach the stylus to a part of the splint where it barely touches part of my hand but at the same time points straight down. I then mounted my iPod Touch on my armrest using industrial strength Velcro (the Velcro is attached to the case that the iPod Touch is in so I didn’t have to stick it directly onto the iPod Touch itself). It’s important that you have whatever Apple touchscreen device you’re using mounted on a flat, hard surface. Because of my limited motor control I never had much success using a mounting bracket with a rotating arm. Your mileage may vary. Now obviously I don’t really get much use out of the accelerometer nor can I do complicated multi-finger gestures. Nevertheless I can still control my iPod Touch fairly well and it has been incredibly useful to me. Check the pictures below for a better idea of my set up.
iPod Touch mounted to the armrest of Paul's wheelchair. You can see his arm and the pogo stylus at the top of the picture.
When I first had my iPod Touch I also experimented with using a mouthstick to control the iPod Touch. Being that your skin has to touch the stylus for it to function this was a difficult challenge. With the stylus at one end of the mouthstick and my mouth at the other end it just wasn’t working. After an extensive amount of Googling I did find out that aluminum foil might do the trick. So I got some aluminum foil and a friend of mine put three layers of it over the tip of the mouthstick then flattened out the tip on a hard surface. Even with no skin contact this method did work but unfortunately it didn’t work particularly well. I either had to press harder than what should have been needed to make the iPod Touch recognize it or half the time it didn’t even work at all. Needless to say I got frustrated and completely stopped trying to use my iPod Touch that way entirely. This wasn’t that big of a deal for me as I could use the iPod Touch while sitting in my wheelchair with the stylus attached to my splint. However, I sometimes like to get in bed a little bit early and therefore would have liked to have a way to use the iPod Touch while laying down.
A mouthstick with the tip covered in aluminium foil.
A couple weeks ago I decided to revisit this idea. I figured maybe something had changed in all those months so perhaps a Googling session now might find something. To my surprise it did find something! I found a match to a YouTube video that showed this guy using a mouthstick to control an iPod Touch! The guy’s name is David Wallace and his website turns out to be a really good resource for assistive technology ideas. So before I go on I want to give David Wallace full credit for this idea. His site is “lifekludger” so please check it out if you can.
He discovered that copper wiring conducts those electrical impulses that come from human skin. So he took a mouthstick and attached a Pogo Stylus to the tip, wrapped some copper wire around it so it’s touching the stylus, then had the other end of the copper wiring go along the mouthstick shaft all the way up to the mouthpiece. So when he’s holding the mouthstick his lips are touching the copper wiring which sends electrical impulses from his skin all the way down to the stylus which allows the iPod Touch to detect the stylus touching it.
A mouthstick, with aluminium foil on the tip and copper wire wound up the shaft.
I immediately attempted to replicate this with a plastic mouthstick, some copper wiring from the hardware store, and some aluminum foil. I do not currently have an extra Pogo Stylus so I figured I could just use aluminum foil at the tip instead. The finished product took literally less than five minutes to throw together and would you believe that it works perfectly! So well that I can control my iPod Touch better with the mouthstick than I can with the stylus. Now I don’t really want to carry a mouthstick around with me all of the time so since I can use the stylus attached to my splint method while I am up in my wheelchair I will continue to do so. But when I’m in bed I now have a way to use the iPod Touch very effectively. I’m able to read this way before I go to sleep or even check Facebook, Twitter, and my RSS reader. It’s awesome! Bare in mind this mouthstick was thrown together in a few minutes. There’s lots of other better ways to attach the copper wiring and so forth.
So when the iPad finally comes out if you have a physical disability which prevents you from using your hands effectively or at all then rest assured that you’re going to be able to use this neat-looking device regardless. And as Ricky pointed out in her excellent “Accessibility and the iPad: First Impressions” article the bigger screen alone makes the iPad immediately more accessible for people with physical limitations. If and when any of our readers get an iPad I’d love to hear your experiences in using the device with the Pogo Stylus, mouthstick-attached method or not.
- Paul Natsch
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by atmacjournal: New ATMac post: Accessing the iPad: Mouthsticks and Styluses http://bit.ly/dk3LFs...
[...] over at the ATMac blog is a good post on the way one person’s overcome the ‘Touch Barrier’, based on my mouthstick [...]
I wonder how the Emotive Epoc ( http://www.emotiv.com/ ) will evolve, as an input device.
[...] wheelchairs, which could well transfer to the iPad. Update: Ricky Buchanan’s site has posted another article on disabled use of the iPhone family of devices, this time by a [...]
Sorry for the OT, but can I suggest that you install the WPtouch plugin here? It detects mobile browsers and uses a simplified theme (you can see what it looks like by viewing any wordpress.com blog on an iPhone or other smartphone). I tried viewing this entry on my Android phone earlier, and the main column was narrowed and most of the text was invisible.
You can find the plugin here. Note that everything goes in the wp-content/plugins directory, including the mobile theme itself.
Your stylus does not have to be in contact with the skin - it just needs to have a conductive tip at the end. You can use the Pogo Stylus with gloves on (outside in the winter this is useful). If you don’t want to pay $25 for the pogo stylus, there are instructions online for making your own stylus, that doesn’t require the handle to be conductive (and could be more easily set up with a splint or mouth stick)
http://robrohan.com/2009/02/27/diy-iphone-stylus-the-free-capacitive-stylus/
where would i buy mouthstick and copper and would it also work with Blackberry storm?
I got small stylus for it (well its iphone stylus) but works, as my co-ordination in hands is getting more shaky especially on tiny screen I was thinking of making some little pointing device i could hold in mouth just to send quick text.
I looked into 3G iPad but I think it be too expensive and I’m mainly housebound anyway, but would like to have another method of accessing my BB to text in an emergency as I’m registered for 999 calls via text.
Any ideas?
Kati
P.S I’m still getting iPad but I mean I think I will just get wi-fi version, which means I could only send text via email on it whilst connected to my home broadband, not outside if electric chair broke down etc to call for help.
Kati,
You can get copper wiring from any hardware store and it’s inexpensive. Here’s some links for mouth sticks:
http://www.sammonspreston.com/app.aspx?cmd=get_product&id=50160
http://www.mouthstick.net/mouthstc/mbromain.htm
The first link is the same one I used.
I don’t know if the type of touch screen technology the Blackberry Storm uses is the same as the iPhone. The iPhone uses “capacitive” touch screen technology. If the Storm uses the same you’re good to go. If it uses something different, like “resistive” touch screen technology, I don’t know how that will work.
Best thing to do is take a homemade mouth stick stylus, like the one in my article, to a store that lets you try the Storm out and test it.
Good luck and I hope it works.
Have you got link to Youtube video you mentioned?
I seen some people have made pointers from aluminum wrapped around pencils etc. Wondered if anyone has made a mouth pointer from scratch or just a bought one with copper around it and foil on end?
Kati,
Here’s the YouTube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDtydtQFiTc
As for making one entirely from scratch the mouth piece portion would be the problem. It’s easy to find a stick for the body of the mouth stick but you need something that comfortably fits in your mouth to hold it. That’s why I think it’s better to just buy mouth sticks from the links I mentioned above then just modify them with the copper wiring and such.
I would be very interested in knowing how your Pogo stylus works with the new ipad. Hope you’re having a great day and thanks for the assistive technology tips.
@Greg: The iPad surface works identically to the iPod Touch and iPhone surfaces, in technology terms, so there’s no reason I know of why the Pogo wouldn’t work identically too. I haven’t heard of any problems but I don’t have an iPad yet so I couldn’t tell you from personal experience.
Any suggestions for not being able to press the home button becuase of not enough strength to turn it on,etc?
@Rosemary: I don’t have any suggestions unfortunately. Paul wrote this article and he might have better ideas than me!
@Rosemary: Sorry for the delay. I had been in the hospital for a nasty infection. To answer your question I would need to know more about your disability. But if you can securely mount the Ipod Touch/iPhone the Home button doesn’t need to be;pressed down for long to be used. With a pencil (or something similar assuming you can hold one or attach it to your hand somehow) you can jab it real quick to activate it. That’s what I do with the Stylus.
New ATMac post: Accessing the iPad: Mouthsticks and Styluses http://bit.ly/dk3LFs
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Accessing the iPad: Mouthsticks and Styluses: http://bit.ly/aXkRVp
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
http://bit.ly/9iWuIS How the handicapped can use the iPod Touch/iPad….wow!
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
My Friend Paul’s Article about accessing the iPad: Mouthsticks and Styluses http://tinyurl.com/yk24cjn
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
The resourcefulness of disabled people: Accessing the iPad: Mouthsticks and Styluses http://tinyurl.com/yk24cjn #iPad #iPhone
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
The resourcefulness of disabled people: Accessing the iPad: Mouthsticks and Styluses http://tinyurl.com/yk24cjn #iPad #iPhone
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
@Paulyboy69 did you write Accessing the iPad: Mouthsticks and Styluses: http://bit.ly/aXkRVp? good piece
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Another disabled person shows how to use iPhone type devices, including the iPad: http://bit.ly/cpTFUi - Looks like it’s found its niche.
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Excellent ideas from quadraplegic Paul Natch on how to use iPod and iPad touch screens with stylus or mouthstick http://bit.ly/atfJ9l
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
insanely cool. Accessing the iPad: Mouthsticks and Styluses http://tinyurl.com/yk24cjn #atmac #disability
This comment was originally posted on Twitter