Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 10, 1994 TAG: 9402100163
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY KEN DAVIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
His magic word is "please." His magic wand is a computer . . .
And although Boyes would say otherwise, the magic itself is a product of his limitless vision.
"He's truly amazing," said Linda Conrad, director of the university's Disabled Student Services.
Boyes, a senior majoring in computer science, has developed what university officials say may be the most comprehensive and inexpensive computer system ever designed for the disabled. The system gives them voice-activated control of such things as opening and closing doors and watering houseplants.
But they have to tell the computer "please."
"Just because it's nice," Boyes said, his soft-spoken seriousness indicative of the methodical work ethic that produced the software.
Boyes began designing the Voice Activated Control System - or VACS - 11 months ago in response to a grant offered by Phi Kappa Phi, a math honor society.
After submitting a proposal, Boyes was granted $600 for his idea, which was to create a voice-activated system to assist disabled students in operating a telephone.
But after talking to Conrad, Boyes' vision grew.
"I asked them, `If you had a magic list of things you wanted, what would it be?' " Boyes said.
And the idea for the computer-controlled room was born.
Conrad said when Boyes first met with her and disabled students about his idea for a computer-controlled room, they gave him their "magic list" with little hope that he would be able to fulfill all their wishes.
They were wrong.
"He has gone way above and beyond our expectations," Conrad said. "I was very, very impressed."
Boyes, who says he tore all his childhood toys apart in order to see how they functioned, said he had little true programming experience when he decided to undertake the project.
Boyes has almost completed his prototype of the computer-controlled room, which the university hopes to implement in the dorms by the fall semester.
In the university's Natural Computer Lab, flanked by the computers and other equipment with which he has worked for more than 500 hours, Boyes demonstrates how his system works - painting a picture of what life eventually may be like for a disabled student at Radford University.
"Fan on, please," he says pleasantly into the microphone on his headset. The fan immediately follows his order.
He moves on to the telephone, which the computer dials on his oral command. Next he waters the plant, then he turns up the volume on the compact disc player.
And it's only the beginning.
Disabled students in Boyes' envisioned computer-controlled room would be able to turn on lights, lock windows and doors and alter the room temperature, all using voice commands that the computer understands even with background noise as loud as that in a sawmill.
A vibrating bed would awaken hearing-impaired students during a fire alarm or other emergency, while the computer-controlled phone would notify emergency authorities.
In a word, disabled students would have freedom - a concept most students take for granted.
"We basically want to let students be as free as they want to be," said Conrad, who has cerebral palsy and understands the frustrations disabled students have. "The computer will give them a sense of freedom and independence they've probably never felt."
Although there are existing voice-activated systems on the market, they have limited control, Boyes said. The VACS system he is developing will control 24 tasks, and he hopes to add 24 more.
Additionally, the VACS software is far less expensive than other systems, Boyes said.
"The neat thing is, I've taken inexpensive stuff off the shelf and implemented into the system," he said.
He used wiring he bought at Advance Auto, a speakerphone from Wal-Mart and the water pump from a child's doll.
Other than the $600 Boyes received in the grant, an Edison, N.J.-based company, Verbex Inc., donated the $800 voice-recognition computer Boyes uses in his VACS system. He insists the $1,400 system is a "real bargain" compared with what one would pay for a simple, much more limited system.
Boyes also hopes to implement an eye-tracking device into the system that would allow the room to be controlled by sight as well as by voice. The device, borrowed from the university's psychology department, would enable the user to control tasks simply by moving his or her eyes.
Although Boyes said he hopes to attend graduate school at Radford and make further advancements to the system, for now his plans are simple.
"The real goal I'd like to see is to have this in a dorm room doing these things," he said. "I'm not really in it for the financial gain. In fact, if any state school wants this, I'd give this to them since it was from a research grant."
As a testament to his humility, Boyes points out the "kinks" in his system, along with all of its technological marvels. But although he is humble in his accomplishments, he is quick to meet any challenge.
"I can't wait to see this in a room," said university Science Information Officer Blaine Friedlander as he looked over the equipment.
"Well, give me a couple of weeks," Boyes said with a slight grin.
by CNB