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Madhouse introduces Lord Sainsbury to Technology of
Tomorrow, Available Today. |
1st February 2004
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Lord Sainsbury met with Peter O’Neill – winner of
the ‘Enterprise Challenge 2003’ and owner of
Madhouse Software Productions, during his visit to the "Knowledge Starts"
exhibition, held in Sheffield, in January 2004.
It was Madhouse Software Productions’ ‘Electronic
Assistive Technology’ (AT), developed to empower severely
physically disabled and elderly people that led the company to
winning the prestigious Enterprise Challenge.
(The Enterprise Challenge is an annual competition to discover
entrepreneurs and guide them through the process
of starting a business)
Exemplifying government policy to help older, disabled and
vulnerable people to live independently in the
community as far as possible, a recent report highlighted the
importance of disability equipment and the
potential contribution of future developments in assistive
technology. | |
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During his
visit, Lord Sainsbury – the parliamentary under-secretary of
state for science and innovation, spoke at the "Technology for
Tomorrow's South Yorkshire", conference, which focuses on new
technologies such as ‘Switch Questionnaire Interface’
developed by Madhouse Software Productions.
‘Switch Questionnaire Interface’ (SQI) specifically
helps researchers to obtain clear and definite data from minority
groups such as non-vocal individuals, those that may have reading
difficulties and those who are blind or partially sighted. The
research aid has been designed specifically to remove third party
intervention. This has traditionally been employed when
questionnaires have required completing by such groups and could
have, in some instances, influenced results. SQI has been developed
to empower the individual by enabling them to make their opinions
known.
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Peter O'Neill meeting with Lord Sainsbury during his visit
to the "Knowledge Starts" exhibition
Peter O’Neill, owner of Madhouse Software Productions
said:
“We were invited by the organisers of the Enterprise
Challenge to attend the ‘Technology for Tomorrow's’
show, in order to demonstrate some of our products that have been
created since Madhouse Software Productions’ conception.
During the event, I demonstrated the SQI and also introduced Lord
Sainsbury to the concept of Portable Electronic Assistive
Technology (PEAT), demonstrating some of tomorrow’s
technology, today!”
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Portability a reality for Virtual Keyboard: |
2nd March
2004 | |
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Madhouse Software Productions – winners of the
‘Enterprise Challenge 2003’ for the design and
development of Electronic Assistive Technology for severely
physically disabled and elderly people, are now developing the
newest version of ‘Virtual Keyboard’ with Portable
Electronic Assistive Technology (PEAT) capabilities.
Virtual Keyboard version 1.0 is an on screen keyboard with
easily changeable interfaces. This assistive technology has been
designed and developed to suit the needs of individuals who are not
able to access a computer via standard means; either because of
reading, writing or motor impairments. Virtual Keyboard has been
shown to increase the text output productivity of such individuals
by 8.9 % when in scanning mode, on a standard QWERTY keyboard.
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Key
features include ease of use when operating the multiple layers to
change case and colour selection, the speed and style that these
keys are highlighted, and the preferred voice attributes - which
includes a male or female voice (speed, pitch and volume). Virtual
Keyboard can also be used in conjunction with
‘Penfriend’- a word prediction application.
Peter O’Neill, owner of Madhouse Software Productions
said:
“For individuals who benefit from Virtual Keyboard, having a
portable version is paramount to having the freedom and
independence of any able-bodied individual. This is inclusive of
those who require computer access with Virtual Keyboard functions,
either at school, college or university; as well as any public or
private computer access point. Madhouse Software Productions are
excited about what this will mean to users of Virtual Keyboard, who
at present may only receive its benefits from their own personal
computer.”
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Madhouse give Microsoft a run for their money |
4th October 2004 |
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Peter
O’Neill, MD of Madhouse Software Productions, and winner of
the Enterprise Challenge 2003 will be giving a demonstration run of
‘The Ultimate Switching Environment’ (USE) at the 2004
annual enterprise and innovation dinner - sponsored by Microsoft,
on the 12th October, at the Millenium galleries, Sheffield.
USE – an Electronic Assistive Technology (EAT) application
for severely physically disabled and elderly people, has four
principle functions, ‘Speech Aid’, ‘Environment
Control’, ‘Keyboard Emulator’, and
‘Computer Mouse Controller’. Unlike conventional
Assistive Technology (AT), whereby a set of 100 items would only
enable the user to do 100 activities, USE has the ability to change
functionalities via switch, or touch on the screen, which can
increase productivity to 2500 activities.
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Peter is a great example of the fundamental principle behind
Sheffield Hallam University’s Enterprise Challenge
competition, which aims to discover and encourage student and
graduate entrepreneurs to start new innovative businesses. The
£5,000 prize-money (plus business mentoring) that Peter won
helped facilitate the development of USE. Peter said:
“Over the past twelve months we have developed USE with a
unique 'Selection Method’, which can increase the users
productivity and a wider functionality with fewer items than a
conventional system. This can enable the user to convert an
interface of 100 items into a maximum of 2500 activities, 500 of
which are independently selectable. This reduces the number of
interfaces required which equally reduces the time needed to make a
number of selections to get the required activity e.g., speak,
write, turn light on or off etc., in comparison to the conventional
EAT system’s. Due to the nature of the user groups, every
possible precaution has been taken to ensure that the USE
application is as stable as possible. Therefore, we look forward to
demonstrating USE, to anyone wishing to view it.”
Organiser of the Enterprise Challenge competition, Sheila
Quairney, is delighted with the progress that Peter has made in
developing his business. “Universities have a key role to
play in encouraging and supporting enterprise in its widest sense
amongst students and graduates, and it’s great to have
successful role models around like Peter to show what can be
achieved.”
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