Device Details

This project was brought to the UBC Enable Team, a sub-team of UBC BEST, by the Vancouver branch of Tetra Society of North America. One of their clients has limited agility and dexterity of his right hand and fingers. However, he is passionate about playing video games, particularly on his PlayStation. His condition limited his ability using the controller, making it difficult to reach the rear buttons on the right side (buttons R1 and R2).

Using Solidworks, we designed a new casing and levers to attach to any PS4 controller so that our client could reach buttons R1 and R2 using his left ring and pinky finger, which are unused during normal controller use. The casing wraps around the centre of the controller securely with a hinge and clasp without interfering with any of the buttons, touch pad, or indicative lights to firmly keep the levers attached to the rear of the controller. The levers stretch from buttons R1 and R2 to the center of the controller’s back face, where they are attached to the casing using a screw. From there, the levers extend towards the inside of the left handle of the controller, stopping about a centimeter from the surface. The user rests his or her ring and pinky finger here. By pulling these levers towards the handle, the levers rotate around the attachment pin, pressing the rear buttons on the right side. STL files are included below.

Components were printed using PLA plastic on a Prusa mk3 3D printer. The hinge was connected by fitting a straightened paper clip through the printed holes and the levers were attached using a 4mm diameter screw with a minimum length of 3/4 in.