FEASIBILITY TECHNOLOGIES TO ENHANCE JOB DEVELOPMENT, JOB MODIFICATIONS, OR JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR DISABLED INDIVIDUALS

COMPUTERS ARE WIDELY USED AS WORKSTATIONS IN TECHNICAL AND BUSINESS APPLICATIONS. THE JOBS ASSOCIATED WITH WORKSTATIONS REMAIN UNAVAILABLE TO MOST OF THE SEVERELY HANDICAPPED POPULATION BECAUSE THEY REQUIRE NORMAL DEXTERITY IN ONE OR BOTH HANDS TO CONTROL THE KEYBOARD AND MOUSE OR OTHER POINTING DEVICE. WORKSTATIONS ARE BASED ON AWIDE VARIETY OF HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE PLATFORMS, MAKING MODIFICATIONS ON A CASE BY CASE BASIS VERY COSTLY AND TIME CONSUMING. RECENT ADVANCES IN ASIC (APPLICATION SPECIFIC INTEGRATED CIRCUIT) TECHNOLOGY AND THE AVAILABILITY OF HIGH DENSITY ON-BOARD MEMORY MAKES IT POSSIBLE TO CONSIDER DESIGNING A UNIVERSAL COMPUTER INTERFACE (UCI). THE UCI WOULD BE A MICROPROCESSOR CONTROLLED UNIT WHICH WOULD SIT BETWEEN THE USER AND THE WORKSTATION, AND ALLOW STANDARD ADAPTIVE INPUT DEVICES TO MIMIC THE ELECTRICAL INTERFACE OF THE KEYBOARD AND POINTING DEVICE. IN PHASE I, WE WILL: A) ANALYZE THE INTERFACE BETWEEN THE KEYBOARD/POINTING DEVICES AND THE COMPUTERS FROM THE MAJOR WORKSTATION VENDORS, B) ASSESS THE APPLICABILITY OF KEY TECHNOLOGIES TO THE PROBLEM, AND C) DEVELOP THE HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE FOR THE UCI.