This research is aimed at the development of a versatile environmental controller that will allow persons with varying disabilities to control multiple external devices in their environment (e.g., home appliances, computers, etc.). This controller is different from existing devices in that clinical professionals will be more able to adapt it to meet the needs of end users with various disabilities. Existing devices are often limiting and impose constraints on the types of input/output information they can process. As such, clinician often have difficulty adapting the controllers to the end users and, consequently, the users are provided with less-than-optimal systems. Present systems are generally expensive to set up and many have questionable utility and reliability. By using recently introduced powerful and standard technology for interconnecting input and output devices and the company's expertise in developing programmable and portable hardware/software systems, a versatile environment controller will be developed that will allow clinicians to quickly and cost- effectively configure systems for individuals.
