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Hacking Accessibility Challenges

Recap of the Accessithon — Accessibility Hackathon

On September 30–October 2, 2016, Open Sky Incubator partnered with faculty from Conestoga College to host a hackathon dedicated to creating technological solutions to help overcome accessibility-related challenges at the Doon campus of Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning.

The event started with hosting a strong line up of guest presenters on Friday September 30th. Notable presentations were “Accessibility: What Does it Really Mean? How Does it Affect You” by Edward Faruzel, Executive Director at KW AccessAbility, and “Human Centred Automation” presented by Major David Dunwoody, Aerospace Studies Program Director, Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Studies. Visit the Accessithon webpage for an overview of other presentations and workshops held on Friday, and throughout the weekend.

The hackathon officially started Friday evening. Students and graduates gathered at Conestoga College from all over southern Ontario to participate in the event. Samtec, Aw-Som Technologies, Mirsee Robotics Research Group, Conestoga College, Avnet, and Clearpath Robotics donated hardware, including microcontrollers, virtual reality headsets, finger gesture recognition devices, and muscle motion recognition arm bands. The participants had the option of using these devices in their projects

The hackathon produced great results, here’s an overview:

64 — Registered participants

12 — Teams formed at the beginning — 8 teams finished the hackathon

10 — Mentors (software and hardware programming)

2 — Accessibility organizations participated — Kidsability and Bridges to Belonging

2 — $500 team prizes in the form of technology equipment awarded to the most innovative accessibility solution, and to the most technically challenging hack winners. Continue reading to see the winning hacks.

100% — Everyone had fun, learned something new, and created awesome accessibility hacks!

The photos below capture some great moments that occurred throughout the weekend.

It’s Friday night, and people are starting to dig in to the hardware goodies.
Some of the hardware available for the hackathon. Thank you Conestoga College, Aw-Som Technologies, Samtec, Clearpath Robotics, and Avnet.
Bridges to Belonging and Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Studies representatives on site, and ready to inspire.
Basic ingredients of a hackathon — laptop, headphones, caffeine, power bar, and snacks. ;)
Configuring the Myo armbands.
Leap Motion in action.
Dorothy (centre) from Kidsability on site and inspiring hacks. Left of Dorothy, Jeffry Darroch, event volunteer. Right of Dorothy, Emile McLean, co-event organizer, and founder of Open Sky Incubator.
The mentors taking a break to network with each other.
The Accessithon had a great roster of mentors on hand.
No caption needed ;).
Taking a break to play with drones.
Inspiration and user experience testing is essential for innovation.

And the winners are …

TIME2GO earned the “Most Technically Challenging Hack” of the weekend.

This team created an app that tracks all GRT buses in real time. This allows anyone to see where their bus is in real time. Furthermore, it helps users understand the best routes to take to their final destination, and sends push notifications when the bus is nearby. Access to real time data, and knowing the whereabouts of buses is a huge benefit for not only people with accessibility needs, but for anyone using public transportation. You may see this solution in your app store in the near future!

ONE BUTTON earned the “Most Innovative Accessible Hack” title.

An Internet of Things (IoT) solution that allows people to operate objects with one push of a button. This group demonstrated how people could use their hack to open doors, instead of pushing the wall-mounted door opener buttons. The app could also be configured to operate other common electronic items, such as, light fixtures, appliances, etc.

Congratulations to all of the participants, mentors and sponsors. Everyone learned something new about various accessibility challenges millions of people face everyday. Technology was put to good use, everyone had fun, and met someone new. Mission accomplished!

P.S. The weekend was capped off with a beautiful rainbow arced over the college. :)