Lights in Your Eyes

In the last post we covered how to set your eye control or touch computer to control a toy or bubble machine; this was all about giving restricted child the ability to control small things around them.  What if we took this to the next level?  What if they could turn the lights on and off?  Or dim them?  Or brighten them?  Or even change their colour?  Well that's exactly what we are going to cover in this post.

In Macsen's therapy room we setup special wifi lightbulbs that change colour.  They are especially effective in his room as we have a set of 6 and have painted the cellin and walls completely white.  Here's some pictures of the effect:

The lights can be controlled by the out of the box remote control, iPhone/android app or the Tobii Communicator pageset that I created.

To set this up,yourself you will need:

* A set of Easybulbs and a Wifi controller.  You can buy a set of 4 with a wifi controller and remote for £77: http://www.easybulb.com/4-easybulb-rgbw-6w-led-light-bulb-remote-control/ (in some countries they are known as MILight or Limitless LED)

* An eye gaze or touch screen windows system (we use Tobii PCeye go http://sensoryguru.com/products/pceyego/)

* A copy of Tobii Communicator

* Access to the settings of your wifi router

* My pageset from pageset central (http://www.pagesetcentral.com/home?task=view.download&cid=1030)

What do do:

* Setup the lightbulbs to use the remote using the in box instructions and test

* Configure the Wifi controller using this web page: http://www.easybulb.com/support/ and test with your smartphone or tablet

* Log into your wifi router settings, find the wifi controller (named Link_Wi-Fi), change it's IPAddress to static/reserved and note the IP address (detailed steps are included for Sky routers at the end or the post)


* Install .net framework 4.5 (http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=30653)
* Unzip the files downloaded from pageset central (http://www.pagesetcentral.com/home?task=view.download&cid=1030)
* Copy the EasyBulbControl.exe and EasyBulbControl.exe.config files for the unzipped folder into the C:\Program Files\EasyBulbControl folder
* Open the EasyBulbControl.exe.config file in notepad and set the following values:
      * Set the IP Address to the one you noted above for Link_Wi-Fi
      * BulbType will either be RGBW or RGB depending on the type of bulb you bought
* Copy Colour Wheel.cdd into your standard pageset folder


* To test the app works, run the following program C:\Program Files\EasyBulbControl\EasyBulbControl.exe.  From this form you should be able to turn the lights on and off as well as changing the colour.


If that worked, open your new pageset and you should now be able to control the bulbs and change your environment with your eyes!




Example steps to fix an IP Address


These steps will be slightly different for each type of router and broadband supplier.  Below are the steps for a sky router:


Open a browser and connect to your router.  For sky it's generally http://192.168.0.1

 
Navigate to the attached devices page.  If prompted for a username and password, set:
    Username: admin
    Password: sky

Find the item Link_Wi-Fi, note the IP Address and MAC Address.


Navigate to the LAN IP Setup page and add and Address Reservation for Link_Wi-Fi with the IP and MAC address you noted.

 
The WIFI controller may need to be turned off and on again after this change.

Blowing Bubble With Your Eyes

When I think back to my childhood I always remember being mesmerised by blowing bubbles.  It seems I've passed this onto my eldest son who also loves them; whenever we go shopping he's always nagging for me to buy a bottle or two!  My youngest son (who has lots of problems including 4 limb Cerebral Palsy and Visual Impairment) doesn't miss out.  He loves to watch his brother blowing bubbles and watching them fly off into the distance.  There is only one thing missing... He isn't in control... He cannot physically blow them... He can't ask his brother or parents to blow them... He just has to sit and wait...  Or does he?  I set out to find a way to give him control to blow bubbles whenever he likes and this blog shows you how we did it!

What you will need:

* An eye gaze (we use Tobii PCeye go http://sensoryguru.com/products/pceyego/) or touch screen system

* Tobii Communicator or similar grid/communication product

* A switch/toy controller (we use the BJ Toy Control Box http://www.inclusive.co.uk/toy-control-box-p6543)

* A switch enabled bubble machine (we use http://www.inclusive.co.uk/switch-adapted-bubble-machine-freddy-fish-p6368)

What to do:

* Connect the switch controller to your PC via a USB port

* Connect the bubble machine to the switch controller (we used port 1)

* Install the switch controller tools using the instructions that come with the product

* Test that the bubble machine works by using the switch controller instructions

* Create a new or edit an existing communicator pageset (instructions can be found here http://www.tobii.com/en/assistive-technology/global/products/software/tobii-communicator/support--downloads/)

* Add a new button or select and existing one.  Right click and choose Button actions from the context menu:

* Check the Show all available actions checkbox:

* Selected the Desktop tab, Run program option and click the Add button:

* In the Run program dialogue enter the following values:

      Select file = BJToyBoxCmd.exe

      Parameters = -s 1 4000

**** Note: -s means scilent (do not show a message), 1 relates to the port that the bubble machine is connected to (can be 1, 2, 3 or 4) and 4000 relates to the amount of time the machine will run for.  4000 = 4 seconds ****

Finally run the pageset, click the button and watch the bubbles fly.  My next challenge is getting my wife to allow us to use a bubble machine indoors!

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