Quinnipiac University computer science graduate Jack Duggan ’24, graduate cybersecurity major Michael Ruocco ’25, computer science professor Chetan Jaiswal and occupational therapy professor Karen Majeski presented an artificial intelligence prototype for AccessiMove at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ 14th Global Humanitarian Technology Conference on Oct. 23-25.
AccessiMove uses artificial intelligence face-tracking and gesture recognition to increase the accessibility of computers for people with physical disabilities. Current applications include operating a wheelchair and communicating between health professionals and patients in hospitals and gaming.
The project was inspired by a former student of Jaiswal’s, Sylvia, who is blind and motivated him to look for ways to make daily life easier for people with disabilities. Sylvia is now an engineer at Apple Inc.
For Ruocco, computers are something that he has enjoyed using his entire life. He wanted to bring that same enjoyment to people who previously could not access it.
The initial idea for AccessiMove came about from discussions at the annual “Adapted Play” conference, created by Jaiswal, Majseki and the Quinnipiac occupational therapy department in 2022.
Jaiswal recruited Duggan and Ruocco from the school of computing and engineering to build the prototype. Brian O’Neil, associate professor of computer science at Quinnipiac, also helped invent the project.
Majeski was asked to join in order to bring a health science perspective to the project.
The interdisciplinary nature of the AccessiMove helped it stand out at the IEEE’s conference. While at the conference, Majeski encouraged other participants to add health science professionals to their teams.
“The invention (of the AccessiMove) is stronger because of the collective knowledge,” Majeski said.
Jaiswal agreed, calling the collaboration across fields the “best part” of the prototype.
O’Neil is proud that the AccessiMove can be used with a built-in or off-the-shelf webcam, making it more accessible for users.
“When we looked around at what already existed, we found that many of the comparable tools required specialized hardware – a high-end webcam, or an X-Box Kinect,” O’Neil wrote in an email to The Chronicle.
Ruocco said that many people at the conference were curious to learn about the AccessiMove: “We got a lot of questions for it, so I think that’s a good sign.” Jaiswal said that out of a 40 minute Q&A session after four separate presentations, “probably 32 minutes were Q&A for our work,” Jaiswal said.
The goal of the annual conference is to address “critical issues for the benefit of the resource-constrained and vulnerable populations in the world,” according to the IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference website.
Ruocco said that one of his biggest takeaways from the conference was that “you can still have fun and be creative while also, like, doing something mundane like computer science.”
The team first began working on the AccessiMove prototype in Fall 2023. In October they filed a U.S. patent for the invention that is currently pending. Going forward they plan to work with the Hartford Healthcare Center for AI Innovation in Healthcare and Connecticut Innovations. A key step to improving their prototype is securing funding.
When it comes to artificial intelligence, like everything Jaiswal says, it “comes with two sides, so good and bad.” It is up to developers to use it “for (the) betterment of everyone.” The AccessiMove is one example of the good that artificial intelligence can do in improving people’s quality of life.
O’Neil wrote that some concerns about AI are “well-founded,” such as plagiarizing humans and the environmental impact of development, but he has witnessed his students using it productively: “I’ve been really impressed with some of the ways that students use tools like ChatGPT.”
O’Neil developed a new minor in Artificial Intelligence at Quinnipiac which aims to educate students about the applications and implications of artificial intelligence.
Majeski agreed that AI is very “impressionable,” so it is important that it is taught the difference between right and wrong. As an educator and healthcare professional, she feels a sense of responsibility to help shape artificial intelligence as a tool to help people.
