What is Expandy?

Expandy allows full control of the Gnome window manager environment through a single button interface. This gives people with physical disabilities access to a computing environment by emulating keyboard and mouse events using an actuator and on-screen feedback.

While commercial solutions exist, the costs involved can be high. The expand system aims to be free, or at least inexpensive. This applies to all aspects of the system including hardware, software, and support.

The initial concept was conceved by Steven Webb and Brett McLoughlin through a 2004 Office of Science and Innovation (OSI) Studentship award. West Australian company Health Technology Consultancy provided resources and equiptment for development. We have been successful in a further OSI grant for the 2005 round of offers, which will be used to complete development of the system and create distributable packages for release.

Further details are available in the Expandy Office of Science and Innovation grant proposal. All the latest news and developments are available through our Sourceforge project page.

Funding

This research is funded by the Office of Science and Innovation through a Studentship award. The award is valued at $7000 and covers a timeframe of 10 weeks from December 2005 to Feburary 2006.

Download

• 2005 studentship project proposal.
• Steven Webb's 2004 studentship project report.

Links

• Sourceforge development website.
• Sourceforge user website.
• Steven Webb's 2004 Expandy website. Note: The material available on this site are original development versions of the expandy system and should be used for reference only.
• Office of Science and Innovation studentship website.
• Health Technology Consultancy website.

Contact

• Wilson Waters : Software developer.
• Steven Webb : Software developer.
• Andrew Marriott : Project academic supervisor.