For people with a physical disability, operating a smartphone is not so obvious at all. That’s why Google will soon introduce new accessibility options in Android that focus on facial expressions.
Google calls the new feature Camera Switches. Six actions can thus be linked to six different facial expressions. Four with the eyes, and two with the mouth. The selfie camera registers whether someone looks to the left, right, above or below, raises their eyebrows, smiles or opens their mouth and as a user you choose what Android does with that information.
In principle, you could operate all of Android without touching the device. In the video below you can see how Camera Switches is used to open the weather forecast, navigate in Google Maps and watch YouTube videos, among other things.
As you can see, setting the options the first time requires the help of someone who can operate the device in the usual way. Starting September 30, Google will release the feature as an update to the Android Accessibility Tools App, which is installed by default on Android phones.
Striking
In the same vein, Google is working on a separate app called Project Activate, which uses the same technique for a different purpose, namely communicating with others. Facial expressions are also registered with this, but for example to read short texts.
In this way, someone who has difficulty speaking due to a muscle disease or other disability can still make themselves heard. Below you can see how this works in practice.
