PRC-Saltillo collaborated with a team of individuals at The Center for AAC & Autism to take the Lamp Words for Life AAC program and extended it for use by individuals with autism, blindness, or visual impairment.
The following quote is taken from the PRC-Saltillo website:
The LAMP Words for Life language system was modified to assist communicators with visual impairments, including tactile cues via a Tactile KeyGuide available for the Accent® 1000, color and icon modifications and simplified motor plans.
The combination of the LAMP approach, along with those modifications give individuals with visual impairments an efficient communication system to help them express themselves and expand their language.
The tactile keyguard is critical to the effective use of the app and PRC-Saltillo sells one. So does Liberator – a PRC subsidiary in the U.K. They charge $165 and $219, respectively, for one of these keyguides.
PRC-Saltillo offers the LWFL-VI on all Accent devices (not yet on any iPads or other tablets), but they only sell tactile keyguides for the Accent 1000 – and then, only for models with serial number 5000AC10 and higher.
Why Print a LWFL-VI Keyguard?
Why would you design and print a keyguard for LWFL-VI rather than purchase one from PRC or a subsidiary? Several reasons:
- Most of all, a printed keyguard will cost you approximately $1.30. That’s a savings of between $160 and $215 over a keyguide from PRC.
- You may own an Accent system for which PRC doesn’t sell a keyguide.
- You may want a keyguard that isn’t clear and uses highly contrasting colors, as in the image above.
- You may want to make adjustments to the layout of the openings (more on that below).
- Finally, when PRC eventually makes LWFL-VI available on iPads and other tablets, it’s unlikely that they will offer a keyguide for sale because it will be too difficult to accommodate all the tablet and case options.
What Now?
Printing a Pre-Designed Accent 1000 LWFL-VI Keyguard
If you would like to create a LWFL-VI keyguard like the one we show above, you can download the STL file from Thingiverse, here.
If you want to utilize contrasting colors, as we’ve done, you’ll have to pause your print after the top surface of the keyguard has finished printing and swap filament colors.
Note that the STL file we’ve created was based on an Accent 1000, model ACN1000-30. If your Accent 1000 model is different, you may need to make adjustments in the size and shape of the keyguard as described below.
Modifying Our Design
You can make changes to our design by downloading and installing the free OpenSCAD software along with a copy of our keyguard designer. The LWFL-VI keyguard cannot be designed online using the Thingiverse Customizer because it includes raised elements. The landmarks around the outside of the grid mean that this keyguard is an example of a “hybrid” keyguard. You can learn more about creating hybrid keyguards here.
Four actions must take place when laying out a LWFL-VI keyguard for an Accent 1000. You can extend these concepts to other Accent models.
New System?
If you’re enhancing our design to include an Accent 800 or some other version that we don’t currently support, you should start by extending the the keyguard designer. Read here to learn more about how to do that.
Basic Settings
Assuming that you own an Accent 1000, go to the Customizer Pane of the keyguard designer and change the following options from the “design default values” preset:
“—- Type of Keyguard —-“
keyguard_thickness = 3
“—- Tablet —-“
type_of_tablet = “Accent 1000”
“—- Tablet Case —-“
height_of_opening_in_case = 159
width_of_opening_in_case = 239
case_opening_corner_radius = 2
“—- App Layout in mm —-“
upper_message_bar_height = 22
upper_command_bar_height = 11
“—- Bar Info —-“
expose_upper_message_bar = “yes”
“—- Grid Layout —-“
number_of_columns = 12
number_of_rows = 7
horizontal_rail_width = 2
vertical_rail_width = 3
preferred_rail_height = 3
cell_corner_radius = 7
“—- Grid Special Settings —-“
add_a_ridge_around_these_cells = [26, 29, 32, 35, 62, 65, 68, 71]
top_padding = 1
bottom_padding = 1
left_padding = 1
right_padding = 1
The openings_and_additions.txt instructions
The opening in the Accent 1000 case isn’t rectangular. It has rounded edges on all four sides. You can add plastic to the outside of the keyguard to fill in these spaces by adding entries to the case_additions data structure. Entries in the case_openings data structure are necessary to add the landmarks around the outside of the grid.
Download this openings_and_additions.txt file as a starting point for any changes you’d like to make to the design.
Simple Modifications
If you set up your own design, there are several things that you can do to make your keyguard work even better for you.
You can hide the camera and home button:
You can change the size and shape of the openings from rounded rectangles to circles:
You can thicken the keyguard so that it’s more difficult to accidentally make a selection:
And that’s just a start.
Do you have any ideas about how to improve this design? Provide some information below: