Open Sesame! enables people with disabilities to use smartphones and tablets completely touch-free, the simple-to-use app, designed by a person with disabilities for people with disabilities, enables anyone with an Android device to control their phone or tablet hands free. Open Sesame! tracks head movements through the phone’s front-facing camera and uses advanced computer algorithms to allow users to control a cursor on the screen to make phone calls, post messages on social media, send instant messages, or download and make use of any app on the Play Store without assistance.
The solution is now subsidized in 10 states (Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, and Wisconsin). After a growing partnership with the ALS Association, the company recently moved into new offices within the ALS Association building in Rockville, Maryland.
“We are honored by the recognition from Google,” said CEO and Founder Oded Bendov. “Sesame Enable’s technology is making the digital world many of us take for granted accessible to an entire population that had been left out of the smartphone revolution. So much of our work and social lives are conducted via smartphones these days and our technology allows people who cannot use their hands to cross the digital divide and engage independently with technology.”
Since 2016, the Google Play Awards has recognized the top Android apps and games, in nine different categories including accessibility, available on the Play Store. This year’s winners, will be revealed at a special session just before the start of Google I/O, Google’s annual developer conference, on May 7.
Nominees were selected by a panel of experts across the Google Play and product teams based on a criteria set emphasizing app quality, technical performance, and innovation.
Sesame Enable developed the world’s first completely touch-free smartphone. Designed by co-founders Giora Livne, a quadriplegic veteran and former electrical engineer, and computer vision expert Oded Ben Dov, Sesame Enable won CES Innovation Awards Honoree in Accessible Technology (2017), the FCC Chairman’s Award for Advancements in Accessibility (2016), Michael Bloomberg’s Genesis Generation Challenge (2015), the Verizon Powerful Answers Award (2014) and Nominet Trust 100 (2014).
Sesame Enable developed the first completely touch-free smartphone, created for people with disabilities by people with disabilities. Sesame’s co-founders are Giora Livne, a quadriplegic veteran and former engineer, and Oded Ben Dov, a talented young app developer who left the gaming world to create the Sesame phone. Powered by voice control and cutting-edge head-tracking technology, the Sesame Phone opens a new world of communication and independence to a population that needs it most: quadriplegics, people suffering from ALS, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injuries, Multiple Sclerosis, severe arthritis, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, and others who have limited to no use of their hands.
Source: Sesame Enable
