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MIDAS - Proof of Concept Prototype
Adaptive Controller Designed for Gamers Living with Muscle Weakening Conditions
Duration :: January 2023 - June 2023 (6 Months)
Collaborators / Experts ::
Vivek Gohil Grant Stoner John Willis Ruud Van Der Waal Katharina Kauruff
Dr Rebecca Stewart Karsten Stewart Viraj Joshi Vedika Lall
Midas is an adaptive gaming controller which can turn any object or surface into a uniquely calibrated control interface.
Outcome of a 5 month long Co-Design exercise, the project addresses the limitations experienced by gamers living with muscle weakness as a result of conditions like Muscular Dystrophy. By using wearable textile force-sensors, Midas brings the interface to the user’s fingertips, allowing the use of personalised shapes and forms as a controller.
This self-directed project challenges the notion of a traditional controller to propose a novel textile interface for gaming which caters to the individual’s experience of Muscular Dystrophy as a disability, unique even within a similar diagnosis.
20% of the 2.8 billion gamers worldwide identify as having a disability (Scope UK). This group of ‘disabled gamers’ — especially those living with muscle-weakening conditions like Muscular Dystrophy (MD)—views gaming as an essential tool for personal development, social engagement, and cultural participation. However, the industry has historically prioritised innovation over accessibility, overlooking the needs of a fifth of the gaming community.
Vivek’s DIY adapted controller
While software in games has seen significant improvement recently, controller hardware remains a bottleneck for many gamers. Reliance on limited and expensive solutions on the market or waiting months to receive support from charities and volunteers is a repercussion of the lack of appropriate, accessible input devices for gamers living with MD.
Midas turns any object/surface into a controller by moving the buttons from a static object to the user’s fingertips. By doing so, it allows the gamers to use everyday objects or custom moulded shapes that they might find ergonomic. It achieves this by incorporating fabric-based force sensors into a wearable controller.
Midas being used with different object, demonstrating it’s ability to not be constrained by ergonomics:
Midas Proof-of-Concept Prototype in use during User Testing sessions.
Midas Proof-of-Concept Prototype in use during User Testing sessions.
Coffee Mug
Tobasco
Roll of Duct Tape
Flat Surface
The fabric sensors sit on individual fingers like socks. When force is applied on these sock like sensors as a result of the user pressing against an object - and the deformation leads to a change in the electricity passing through it. This change is measured and used to threshold different actions for the controller. Rather than being an on/off switch, it gives a range of values which allow the user to calibrate it to their unique strength and build their control schemes to play games.
Open view of the fabric FSR.
Product render for the fabric FSRs
Midas is the culmination of a 'Start-with-One' methodology in which I aimed to solve a single user's problem and then take those learnings to benefit a broader population. To realise this approach, I worked closely with Vivek Gohil and Grant Stoner, both of whom are accessibility journalists but, more importantly, are avid gamers living with MD. Experts in accessibility advocacy and adaptive equipment design were also active participants in the co-design workshops and interviews.