Intel just open sourced Stephen Hawking’s speech system and it’s a .NET 4.5 WinForms app that you can try for yourself: I’m typing this sentence with my face. And no, I didn’t somehow smash my face onto a keyboard with laser-like precision. I used Intel’s ACAT, or Assistive Context-Aware Toolkit, an open source platform developed in C# using .NET 4.5 and Visual Studio 2012 at Intel Labs to allow people with disabilities to communicate with ease, even in very constrained situations, like Stephen Hawking’s, Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!As we all know, the venerable physicist Professor Stephen Hawking is unable to talk as he is afflicted with ALS and thus relies on a computer system to communicate. In 2011, his condition was deteriorating so badly that he could best communicate at a rate of only 2 words per minute. He reached out to Alan Moore at Intel and asked if Intel could come up with new technology to help his plight. Intel was happy to oblige. For 3 years, Intel Labs worked in close collaboration with Hawking to acutely address his needs and in January of 2014, they announced the first stable release that Hawking would use to replace his decades-old speech system. There was a near instant 10x improvement to all common tasks such as conducting a web search or opening a Word document. Fast-forward a few months and now Intel has open sourced the whole platform to allow researchers and hackers to broaden its use for people with disabilities of all backgrounds. more at....... http://blogs.msdn.com/b/cdndevs/arc...h-system-and-it-s-a-net-4-5-winforms-app.aspx
I was of the opinion that Hawking's condition had stabilized somewhat. Appears I was wrong. Great news though and great to see this extraordinary scientists keep on keeping on.
