As part of Accessibility Awareness Day 2024, Google is showing off several updates to Android that help people with mobility and vision impairments.
Project Gameface allows gamers to use their faces to move the cursor and perform common click-like actions on the desktop. It's coming to Android as well.
This project allows people with limited physical movement to use facial movements such as raising their eyebrows, moving their mouth, and turning their head to activate various functions. There are basic things like a virtual cursor, but also gestures that let you define the start and end of a swipe, for example by opening your mouth, moving your head, and closing your mouth.
It can be customized to suit an individual's abilities, and Google researchers are working with India's Incluzza to test and improve the tool. Certainly for many people, the ability to easily and easily play many of the thousands of games (perhaps millions, but thousands of great games) on Android could not be more welcome.
Here is a great video showing the product in action and customization. Her Jeeja in the preview image is talking about changing the amount you need to move your head to activate the gesture.
Fine-grained adjustments like this are just as important as having someone able to set the sensitivity of your mouse or trackpad.
Another feature for those who don't have easy access to an on-screen or physical keyboard is a new non-text “look to speak” mode that allows users to select their own emojis, or add phrases or actions. Enables you to select and send an emoji as a representative of .
You can also add a photo of yourself, so you can add common phrases and emojis to your speed dial, and you can also attach photos of frequently used contacts to that person's photo, all of which can be viewed several times. It can be accessed only by
For people with visual impairments, there are a variety of tools (with varying degrees of effectiveness, no doubt) that allow users to identify what they see on their phone's camera. There are countless use cases, so sometimes it's best to start with something simple, like finding an empty chair or recognizing a person's keychain and pointing to it.
Users can add custom objects and location awareness, so the instant description feature provides what you need, not just a list of common objects like “mugs and plates on the table.” Which mug?!
Yesterday, Apple also showed off some accessibility features, and Microsoft is also offering some accessibility features. Although these projects rarely get main stage treatment (Gameface did), they are extremely important to the people for whom they were designed.