The Tablet
Brigham Young University students have built an eye-tracking tablet computer to help aid people with disabilities at the behest of Digital Systems . The final product is a Windows 7 tablet that is 2 inches thick with a 14 by 10 inch face. The internal computer system is built from the ground up. The built in eye tracking capability comes from EyeTech, similar to their TM3 tracker.
The major benefit of the students work, is the price of the system. They say that some similar devices cost in the excess of $14,000, while their project comes in at about $1,500. EyeTech is taking the prototype created by the students as a basis for future tablets. The ultimate place for this tablet will be third world countries where teaching the disabled can be a challenge.
I believe that every senior/final design project should be fostered and sponsored by a company, similar to this BYU, EyeTech collaboration. As you can see, the hard work will continue to be improved upon and eventually benefitting the world.
I thought of this as I stripped a few relays out of my senior design project I has laying around in a cardboard box for years.
Cabe