'No-Touch' Typing for Disabled
From: Wired News - 12/25/2002

Programmers at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil have
produced a free adaptable software program that disabled people use to
operate computers and home automation systems. Once downloaded onto a user's
computer, the Motrix program allows people to read, write, launch
applications, and navigate menus. Motrix can also be integrated with home
automation systems so that disabled users can turn on and off appliances such
as the TV or air conditioner, for example. Typing is achieved
letter-by-letter, with people using the "alpha," "tango," and "bravo" type of
characters in the International Phonetic Alphabet, which is easier to
distinguish in noisy environments. The system was especially developed for
the 200,000 quadriplegics in Brazil, who often cannot afford expensive
imported programs. It uses free voice-recognition software and only requires
a 133 MHz Pentium processor and the Windows operating system. Motrix is an
enhanced version of Dosvox, which in turn was based on a text-editing program
developed by a blind computer science student, Marcelo Pimentel Pinheiro.
Programmers at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro's Electronic
Computation Nucleus have been working on adaptable software since 1994. 

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