Then it built him a lap tray where he can rest his hands, embedding a one-handed joystick inside of it so he didn’t even have to hold the controller, he could just use the stick. And for the 25-year old, Microsoft used an Adaptive Controller as a base. The 16-year-old was given stick extenders on his standard controller, along with an Xbox Adaptive set. That meant all three brothers needed individualized setups. The 13-year-old has a typical Xbox controller (but was set up with an Adaptive Controller along with buttons his feet can press, for the future). But in real life, it’s more of an unpredictable gradient. On paper, their condition is described as one thing. He could hold a standard game controller but had some issues.”
![universal control remapper motion control universal control remapper motion control](https://i.imgur.com/tUG0jkF.png)
The 16-year-old was somewhere in the middle. “The 13-year-old was pretty much a regular 13-year-old, where the 25-year-old was in a wheelchair and didn’t have a lot of arm movement, couldn’t hold a game controller. “Muscular dystrophy is a condition that makes you progressively weaker as you get older,” says Johnson. People were invited to the controllerthon via Johnson’s Twitter account and the help of local hospitals and nationwide nonprofits. That’s where Johnson and his team have stepped in to help.įor instance, Microsoft recently flew three brothers, each of whom are living with varying degrees of muscular dystrophy, out to the company’s campus for a “controllerthon,” where Microsoft engineers and designers customize Adaptive Controller rigs for individual needs.
#Universal control remapper motion control software
The Adaptive Controller is designed with the ports and supporting software to enable such use cases, but it still requires ingenuity and improvisation, because no two disabilities are the same. Or maybe you are paralyzed from the neck down but enjoy adventure games. Maybe you’re a double amputee but want to play first person shooters that require the use of two thumbsticks. Johnson fields questions on Twitter from people every day, asking how it can work for highly specific use cases.
![universal control remapper motion control universal control remapper motion control](https://3l4sbp4ao2771ln0f54chhvm-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/ACS-Motion-Controls-SPiiPlus-UDMnt.jpg)
The Adaptive Controller has been on the market for $100 since last year, but this was no typical product launch-the controller is an ongoing project within Microsoft. We’re always trying to figure out new ways to get people to put buttons where they need it.” Giving people the ability to put a button where they need it was always the goal. Obviously, you have analog triggers and thumbsticks-those are the most complicated parts. Most of what a game controller is a button. “To be completely honest, game controllers, they’re not really that complicated. While game controllers might be ergonomic wonders, their inner workings aren’t terribly complex, Johnson points out. “That’s the approach we took: how do we meet people where they are? How does this device adapt to you?” says Bryce Johnson, inclusive lead at Microsoft, who has been involved with the Xbox Adaptive Controller since it was first workshopped during a Microsoft hackathon (originally, the goal was to create a controller for a veteran amputee), The Adaptive Controller is meant to work differently for everyone. Most products are built to work the same for everyone.
![universal control remapper motion control universal control remapper motion control](https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.27/Images/AnimatingObjects/SkeletalMeshAnimation/LiveLinkPlugin/MotionController.jpg)
![universal control remapper motion control universal control remapper motion control](https://www.hometech2u.com.my/image/hometech/image/data/all_product_images/product-1412/74z5gjpP1591804496.jpg)
It’s our 2019 Innovation by Design product of the year-and it illustrates a sea change in technology, both within and without Microsoft. It features an additional 19 ports for people to plug in any specialized controllers they might need, from sip and puff sensors to more easily graspable arcade joysticks. It features two oversize buttons that are easy to hit, not just with dexterous fingers but any appendage. This year, Microsoft announced a surprise project called the Xbox Adaptive Controller, designed to make gaming more accessible to people with all sorts of disabilities.