9.12.2009
By accident I stumbled upon this inspiring story. Tony Quan is a famous graffiti artist in LA however tragedy struck hard when he discovered that he got ALS. Since his body is failing on him he could not follow his passion anymore. A group of talented hackers did something truly amazing. First they build a low-cost eyetracker which allows Tony to draw by only using his eyes. After he used the device for the first time he said:
Learn more about the project here.
"That was the first time i’ve drawn anything since 2003! It feels like taking a breath after being held underwater for 5 minutes.”
After they built the eyetracker they took the whole idea to an even higher level. Since Tony can not leave his bedroom, the group used a high performance beamer to project his art live onto walls in the city.
For me the story shows two things. First it is amazing what kind of possibilities technology offers for people with disabilities. Secondly it is interesting to see how the falling prizes for complex hardware are leading to a true democratization of high-end technologies. Nowadays in order to accomplish something all you need is a dedicated group of hackers since the hardware is getting cheaper and cheaper every day.
Learn more about the project here.
