AbleGamers Chats with Mike Taylor of Dream Technology - Part 1

AbleGamers’ Steve Spohn had a chance to talk to Mike Taylor from Excitim Limited, to talk to us about their Dream Technology products. Dream Technology is a shop that almost exclusively makes technology products to help disabled people interact and enjoy everything from PC’s and Playstations to Remote controlled cars. It is a great honor for AbleGamers to be able to speak to the folks on the cutting edge of accessibility hardware.

Steve Spohn: Hello Mike, thanks for taking the time to be here today!

Mike Taylor: Hello Steve and thanks for inviting me here today.

SS: Let's start off with the easy questions. Please explain to our readers who you are and what it is you do.

MT: My name is Mike Taylor. I’m 55 years old and I live in the UK. I spent most of my business career working for a well-known chemical company before being caught up, like many people, in a restructuring program in 2005. I was too young to retire and faced the prospect of doing more of the same or to branch into something new.

I chose to do something different and formed my own company called Excitim in 2006.

Excitim is all about helping individuals and companies develop and bring good product ideas to the market.

I met Mark Heath in 2006 and we have been working together since then. Mark is an electronics engineer and uses his skills to develop products for individuals with physical disabilities and special needs.

We launched our first product Dream-Racer in early 2007.

SS: Sounds like you got lucky to meet each other. On your webpage, it states that you and Mark Heath had similar ideas and goals. Take us through the initial conversation as to what it was that you both wanted to accomplish by starting this company.

MT: We first met in August 2006 and realized we had very complementary skills and interests. Mark showed me his first radio controlled car design and control systems. Mark told me how he had originally designed it for Danny, a four year old, who had been involved in a road accident and left paralyzed. Instead of using a handset to steer the car, Mark had built the electronics into a baseball cap, which allowed Danny to use head movements to drive the car.

At that stage, we thought if it works for one, maybe it could bring fun to others in similar circumstances to Danny.

We decided to use Excitim as the way to make Dream-Racer and all the other product ideas available to the larger community.

SS: What an inspirational story! If you would, could you give us a few examples of other first successes that you had back in 2006.

MT: Like any other company with a new product, there is always a lot to do before you can make your first sale.

Before we could commercialise Dream-Racer we need to get organised. One of the first things we did was contact Nikko to help us select the cars we wanted to adapt. Nikko is one of the biggest radio controlled car producers in the world and they helped us enormously. After explaining what we wanted to do they took us into their warehouse and literally said “you can take anything you need” (I wish we had driven there is a bigger car that day!!!!)

Then we needed to complete all the product compliance testing which would enable us to sell them.

Early on, we also made the decision to ask a specialist retailer to help us reach the users that would benefit most from our products. Since then we have appointed several more. At present, we have a limited representation in the USA. This could be an opening for one or more of your readers.

SS: Definitely, it would be an honor if we can make even one more person aware of your company's products that needs a different way to operate standard toys. Obviously, the Dream Racer products are intended to help children and young adults with disabilities. Have you considered that your products may be able to help people with disabilities that may be older but just need an escape from everyday life?

MT: Actually, one of the first sales we had was to Alan. He wanted a Dream-Racer for his mother who is 72 years young. She had had a stroke and he was hoping that the head movement needed to drive the car would help to stimulate her and improve her overall body mobility. Alan’s need is probably an exception but we know that people of all ages use the cars (and other toys/devices) for different reasons.

Here is another example you would not normally expect. Glynis is a teacher at the Blackfriars Special Needs School in the UK and she is using the car to help teach her students to speak French. Now I know you are probably thinking, “How does that work?” Well, her students need to ask, in French, if they can drive the green car, or blue one, and again in French, say which way they are going to drive it around a track, how many times and for how long. The kids love it and it is an amazing motivator to learn and practice their language skills.

SS: Now that is a great way to learn French! Considering your company has only been in existence for a small number of years, your team already has an extensive catalog of items. To briefly list the items that you offer, they include plush toys for children, remote-control cars, video game console adapters, controls for TV and appliances, as well as many PC accessories that can adapt multiple devices to use the computer. In not too technical terms, could you describe what methods Dream Technology uses to create these innovative toys?

MT: The most important point is the need to talk to the customer and ask what their needs are. I know this sounds very simple but it is true. Too many products are conceived on a workshop bench and, because it works for the inventor, it is believed it must work for everyone else.

At the start of a new product design we bounce ideas forward and backwards in order to get a good feel for what is doable, what it could look like, how it should work etc. We then use all of our abilities to move from an idea to a proof-of-concept, functional device. At this stage, it may not look too great but it helps us to move forward.

At this stage, if we are feeling brave enough, we will send it to one or more recognized experts for them to look at. For example, during the original design of the Dream-Gamer PlayStation controller, we asked Barrie Ellis at www.OneSwitch.org to give us his opinion and we have done the same with the two new versions we worked on as special projects. Barrie is a well-known gaming expert that promotes the need for more games access for disabled individuals.