BURNABY, BC--(Marketwired - January 29, 2018) - Neil Squire Society's Makers Making Change is holding the Acadia LipSync Buildathon in Wolfville, Nova Scotia on February 1st, 2018. At the Buildathon, approximately twenty Acadia University students will come together to build mouth-operated assistive devices for people with disabilities called LipSyncs as part of Accessibility Week at the university.
The LipSync enables a person who has no use of their hands to use a touchscreen device, laptop or computer. The LipSync is a mouth operated joystick that allows a user to control an onscreen cursor with minimal head and neck movement. An open-source hardware project funded by Google.org, the Vancouver Foundation, and the Government of Canada, it uses 3D printed parts, an Arduino Micro board, and other common parts that can be soldered to a circuit board and built in a day.
DATE: Thursday, February 1, 2018
TIME: 9:00am - 4:00pm
LOCATION: Acadia University, Sheldon L. Fountain Learning Commons, 26 Crowell Road, Wolfville, Nova Scotia B4P 2R6
At the event, teams will be supplied with tools, components, parts and instructions, and will work together to assemble, solder, 3D print components, transfer the code onto an Arduino board, and mount the device to a wheelchair. They will be supported throughout the buildathon by the LipSync creators, Neil Squire Society's Makers Making Change.
LipSync Buildathons are an opportunity for people to build LipSyncs, and to apply their knowledge and skills to address the real world need of persons with disabilities. The goal of LipSync Buildathons is for a person with a disability to leave the event with a working LipSync, giving them the opportunity to independently use technology.
Makers Making Change has hosted LipSync Buildathons across Canada and the United States, having produced over 300 LipSyncs ready for use by people with disabilities.
For more details on the buildathon, please visit the Eventbrite page. Watch AMI's feature on Neil Squire Society Buildathons.
About Neil Squire Society
"We use Technology, Knowledge, and Passion to Empower Canadians with Disabilities." The Neil Squire Society is the only national not-for-profit organization in Canada that has for over thirty years empowered Canadians with disabilities through the use of computer-based assistive technologies, research and development, and various employment programs. Through our work, we help our clients remove barriers so that they can live independent lives and become active members of the workplace and our society. Specializing in education and workplace empowerment, the Society has served over 40,000 people since 1984.
About Makers Making Change
Makers Making Change is an initiative by the Neil Squire Society. It connects Makers to people with disabilities, to create access solutions. It also features a library of various open-source assistive technology projects, with parts, instructions and reviews to support makers and people with disabilities. Their first major project is the LipSync.
Distribution of this press release was generously donated by Marketwired.
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Contact Information:
For Further Information, please contact
Zee Kesler
Project Manager, Makers Making Change
Office: 604.473.9363 ext. 138
Cell: 604-600-1138
Email: zeek@neilsquire.ca
