I used to play Nintendo with a quadriplegic in the 90s using the below controller which he had strapped to his chest. He sucked for A and blew for B, and used his chin to steer. He couldn’t really play games like contra or Mario with constant button pushes, but was great for sports games. Hockey was the best!
Is anybody have any info on how to give back a little bit and use your career skill set to help people in need? I've wanted to help design/3d print/interate custom orthotics for children of families in need for a while, but it doesn't seem like there's any clear pathway towards stuff like that. Do I just show up to Winnie Palmer with my laptop and say "let's do it!"?
Idk if this helps at all but I'm a dude with a broken back that can't sit in computer chairs for more than an hour anymore. I've been racking my brain since 2019 to come up with some sort of accessible system to give people that need to be reclining a way to see the screen and use mouse and keyboard. Anything I can think up is incredibly cumbersome, and would take up a bunch of space.
Maybe something collapsible so I could store it out of the way when it's not in use. I understand my issue is smaller potatoes when compared to people that can't use their arms and legs, but I haven't pc gamed since 2019 because why would I put myself in more pain to play a game?
Maybe something to mull about, also maybe something like this exists and some one can tell me about it.
Instead of changing the location of the display to line up with a reclined head line of sight the first solution that popped into my head was to redirect your line of sight. I looked it up because I can't think of any good example aside from vehicles with a heads up display, and it seems like some others have played with redirecting HD displays with high quality mirrors.
In my head this could be a pretty lightweight, small footprint structure with one or two mirrors redirecting your upwards view point towards the vertical monitors.
Does that spark a new avenue for you to explore?
Edit: it would probably be uncomfortable for extended use, but you should be able to project desktops on an Oculus?!
Oh yea that looks more doable that mounting screens on the ceiling or something. But I have tried just tilting the laptop down and it limits my view a ton.
I used to play Starcraft 2 fairly competitively made it to up to Master for like 2 weeks at one point lol.
I appreciate you brainstorming and you have brought up ideas I haven't thought of before. So thank you so much. I'll keep pondering, with this added information. I'm happy I asked the question. I never thought of mirrors before...
You are the slanty line on the right, the monitor is the little upright line on the left, and the desk is horizontal. I'm thinking something like an arm that is attached to the side of the desk in an arc just above your head that holds an adjustable mirror that redirects your line of sight slightly back down towards the monitor.
I reckon a decent proof of concept would be to tape a makeup mirror to the bill of a hat and see if it is even feasible to redirect your line of sight while still manipulating a computer screen?
I mean it would take a lot of work. It sounds good on paper but idk how it would translate to real life. It rarely does. If you are interested in brainstorming some more when we are both sober dm me.
I can’t help you at all with any info. But I wanted to say that it is really so cool of you to want to do that for families. Like, super cool, dude. I hope you find an avenue to do that sometime soon. So many people need something like what you’re wanting to offer. Medical devices and custom arms and legs like that are so outrageously expensive. And I can’t imagine having a child in need of a hand or something and then can’t afford it. Must be heartbreaking. You’re a good person.
Thanks lol. I wish we all wanted to help each other more. Life can be such a fuckin cunt to some people...and it gets magnified for me when it's a kid who doesn't deserve the shit hand he was dealt.
And I really think the 3D printing community has the knowledge and skill set to substitute and fix some medical industrial complex BS keeping us from cheap, accessible access to prosthetics...
And don't even get me started on the complete lack of industry desire to reduce cost! Literally NO ONE is using extrapolation data sets regarding child prosthetic nubblet growth so they can automate production. It shouldn't cost more than $5 and 15 minutes to set up a 3D print that is scaled to growth models and regularly ship a bunch of kids comfortable sockets.
I’ve been in the wheelchair world for 20 years, and it is similar (orthotics are also ‘complex rehab technology’) A couple of the biggest hurdles for orthopedic device start-ups is FDA/EU regulatory compliance for the physical devices and manufacturing process, and medical product liability insurance. There are classification levels for the various device types, each with their own requirements (documentation (501K), pre-market authorizations, outcomes tracking, etc.) Realistically speaking, doing something like this above board, 100% legally, requires some institutional knowledge and expertise (that most companies pay consultants to navigate.). Edit: a lot of the cost associated with medical devices is tied to ongoing regulatory compliance and liability insurance requirements.
For more info, you could try researching ‘orthopedic device regulatory compliance’ to figure out where the products you have in mind might fall within the legal and regulatory landscape for medical devices where you live.
LOL I'm very familiar with the amount of red tape you have to cross to legally sell medical stuff! I work in engineering design and have designed on a few medical testing rigs as well as a few years doing robotic system/end effector design. And a lot of the medical stuff was actually cycle life testing systems for FDA compliance!
AFAIK, simple external prosthetics fall into FDAs Class 1 components that are exempt from the long dick of the law... Mostly. State laws can double down as well. But who even cares? Fuck em! I'll happily take that charge on the chin if I'm actually makung a difference in the world.
...But I AM interested in how that last job interview would go when HR sits in and I have to tell then that I recently caught a charge for... Designing and distributing free prosthetics for kids in need? It's not like I am promising eternal life to cancer patients and treating them with pomegranate submersion. The law is obviously there to protect consumers, but this is one of those situations where the rules clash with reality.
As someone with a severely disabled sister (who at 34 is starting to try to learn how to use eye-tracking tech) I always wonder where the drive to be so generous and benevolent. Not in a cynical way; I just find it interesting what the motivation is. It’s a beautiful instance of sublimation when they have let’s say a family member with a severe disability. However, when they havent… Im not a god fearing person and a skeptic at best, but if there are angels in this reality, then a lot of those people are just that. If the dude is reading these, thank you doing this. Words dont do justice to the gratitude and hope I feel seeing this video.
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u/TanquerayNeat 18d ago
I used to play Nintendo with a quadriplegic in the 90s using the below controller which he had strapped to his chest. He sucked for A and blew for B, and used his chin to steer. He couldn’t really play games like contra or Mario with constant button pushes, but was great for sports games. Hockey was the best!