Puffin Innovations

Puffin is the brainchild of Adriana Mallozzi, brought to fruition by a team of talented MIT students (Edward Burnell, Esther Jang, Kate Tatar, and Shirlene Liew) at the 2015 AT Hackathon.

People with physical disabilities often cannot access computers and mobile devices because mice, keyboards, touch screens and other conventional interfaces require fast and accurate hand motions. There are some alternatives, however, what’s currently on the market is expensive, immobile, and unconfigurable.

With the Puffin, we’re trying to make assistive technology that fits itself to the user, instead of the other way around. We want Puffin to work in every place and way that people do, providing them with the same level of access to computers and mobile devices that many take for granted. Puffin is a sip-and-puff joystick that is affordable, portable, and durable. And we want to see how far we can go towards making interfaces tailored to people’s abilities. We think this approach will work even outside those differences commonly labeled as “disabilities.”