Accessible Gamepad Accepts Voice Commands

If the last video game controller you held came with your NES, then go take a look at your kid's PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X controller. Those modern gamepads have a ridiculous number of buttons and joysticks, with many of them being analog inputs. They require quite a lot of dexterity to operate and that can be a real problem for people living with disabilities that affect fine motor control. To help those people enjoy today's video games, Bob Hammel developed this voice-enabled video game controller.

This is a hybrid controller that combines button and joystick inputs with voice-activated commands. The physical inputs are simple and few in number—reminiscent of an SNES controller, except with an analog joystick in place of the directional pad and no shoulder buttons. Compared to most modern video game controllers, this is easier to manipulate. But today's games require a greater number of inputs than the SNES layout offers, which is why this controller also has voice commands.

The voice feature extends the controller's capability to allow for a plethora of virtual buttons. Instead of pushing the right bumper button, for example, the user can speak a voice command. The controller will then send that to the game as if it were any other button press. It takes a lot longer to speak a command than to push a button, so the voice commands are most suitable for tasks like opening menus. That's why the controller has conventional buttons for more frequent and time-sensitive commands.

In addition to the buttons, joystick, and 3D-printed case, this controller contains three important components: an Arduino Micro development board, an Elechouse V3 Voice Recognition Module, and an Adafruit 1.3" 128x64 OLED screen. The Voice Recognition Module can understand up to 80 unique voice commands. When it hears those through a microphone connected to its onboard jack, it notifies the Arduino. The Arduino monitors that and the physical inputs, and acts as a USB HID gamepad or keyboard to send the commands to a connected PC via USB. The OLED screen displays the status of the Voice Recognition Module, recognized voice commands, and any other relevant information.

This gamepad does still require that the user have some manual control in order to manipulate the physical input buttons and joystick, but it is far more accessible than most modern controllers with their multitude of buttons.