49-year-old Rick Hoyt has cerebral palsy and communicates using assistive technology. Hoyt has collaborated with Margrit Betke, a College of Arts & Sciences associate professor of computer science, and James Gips, a Boston College professor of computer science and their students.

Camera Mouse, is an augmentative communication tool for people with movement and communication challenges. Cameramouse uses a webcam to lock onto and track a chosen section of the user’s face—a nostril or the tip of an eyebrow, for example—and then links that person’s head movement to a cursor on the screen.

Chris Kwan and John Magee , graduate students in Betke’s lab,  developed companion software using Camera Mouse’s technology. They have adjusted the software to translate the intended movement to the actual movement.