Gaming glove type thing

[Jaunty]

Hi,

To keep brief friend was in an accident and has very little movement left, though he can move his fingers.

Managed to get a logitech tracker ball which works perfectly for him as a mouse and using the on screen keyboard but basically limits his gaming to ffxi (can hold left mouse button to move, who would of known) and some strategy games (civ, blood bowl etc).

Really trying to find a glove or such which will register the movement of his left fingers, even if it is just 5 keys it should open up many more games for him.

Looked up various options, P5 glove looked ok for the finger keys but cant seem to find one and the movement sensor would be useless anyway. He also doesn't have enough movement yet for the Peregrine to be of any use unfortunately.

Was thinking along the lines of a glove with wires to the tips of his fingers with his hand sitting on some sensor tray or such. When he lifts his finger the contact would break and register a key movement. Even if someone could point me in the direction of making something like this myself it would be greatly appreciated.

Hopefully someone here has seen or knows of something which would be of help, even just to get the WASD keys would open up simple games such as minecraft for him.

Thanks

[xerodok]

Not sure of any kind of 'glove' you could get, probably something a medical supply could custom make.

I would recommend a Logitech G13. It's not too large, would comfortably fit his whole hand, and each button can be macroed to any key (or pattern of keys) on the keyboard.

i.e. the middle four buttons could be mapped to WASD.

I hope this helps.

[hey]

Oh nvm, you said he couldn't use it. If he can't use the peregrine, idk if there are any real options. It shouldn't be too hard to gut a keyboard or something, and make something simple, if you know what you're doing.

[Jaunty]

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

Problem we found with the mini-keyboard type things are that he cant keep his fingers raised for that long, so would rather a key worked in reverse, i.e when pressed it does nothing and when not pressed it would trigger, though this could only be for 4 keys and not the whole keyboard of course. Is there such a way or program which I could set up to do this?

That logitech is actually better looking that all the ones I have seen before, even a stick for his thumb so would work well if the above could be solved.

Trying to make something "simple", I have a limited knowledge of actual designing such a thing, can do soldering, modification and such, but would need some information of how to actually begin such a task, such as what parts of they keyboard so what, and how do I know what parts of the board do what etc.

Thanks so far.

[Mugekuge]

I found this ring mouse, probably a bit heavy for him i suppose.

http://www.geniusnet.com/wSite/ct?xI...711&ctNode=105

[SnickySnacks]

http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-conte...owerGlove.jpeg

/obligatory

[Cheerios]

How about a virtual laser keyboard? He wouldn't need to keep his hands raised like on a keyboard. It will probably run around $200.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNvZduvwfMA

[Kohan]

While this is not exactly what you were asking for, you did mention virtual keyboards, which makes me wonder which one he's currently using. If it's the one which came with Windows, you may want to seek out a more robust alternative, such as this, which is free:

http://cnt.lakefolks.com/

Other old discussions like these (which involve using software to modify the functionality of a joystick) may help you, too:

http://www.mombu.com/games/quake/t-j...er-547333.html

Even if you can't do precisely what they suggest, they should point you in the right direction.

[Jaunty]

Ha, see what you did there, but he can already control a mouse so the finger mouse not much more help.

Although that glove looks awesome and I am now wanting on for myself, dont think it will help him in the slightest lol.

Never even thought of a virtual laser keyboard, looks like a viable option and will look into that more thank you.

Yea he has been using the windows keyboard but that one looks much better thanks Kohan, we will download and try that out tonight. The joystick wont help much as not enough movement on his left wrist (though good movement on right so might be able to work something out).

Thanks again for all the help / suggestions

[DAKPluto]

http://www.handykey.com/

The Twiddler is based off a design I first read about nearly 10 years ago for a one handed keyboard. Since you seem to indicate he has good finger action, this might be the best option. It takes some learning of course, but I've seen people hit some damn impressive WPM on these kind of things.