UCF grad student creates game controller for people with hand disabilities

ORLANDO, Fla. (FOX 35 Orlando) - Aaron Cendan says he’s played video games for as long as he can remember.

“I bought the Nintendo GameCube when it first came out back in 2001 and I’ve had it ever since” says Cendan.

These days he’s working on a graduate degree at the University of Central Florida’s Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy. In his spare time, he runs his one person company called Stickless Custom Controllers.

Cendan builds each one of his $250 video game controllers in his garage. Each one is custom designed for its user.

Cendan says, “I build custom controllers for people across the U.S., Germany, Denmark, you name it.”

The first controller he built was for a friend who played video games so much, he began to have painful hand problems. Two years and nearly 100 controllers sold later, many of his customers are gamers who have hand deformities or hand disabilities.

Cendan works with each one to build a controller that takes their special needs into account.

He says, “I can have people send me pictures of their hand placement. I can have them put their fingers on a sheet of paper and draw circles around where each finger rests.”