Corsten said the team used the accessibility framework and Apple script to hack into the OS to get access to the different windows.

Another project took a novel approach to puppetry, with a marionette controlled not by a puppeteer but by a forcepad. The marionette hung on strings attached to a set of wheels and "servos," or little motors.

To see the puppet project, .

As a researcher pressed his fingers on the forcepad, the puppet lifted its leg and waved its arms. Sliding his fingers across the pad made the puppet move left and right. One researcher said the project wouldn't have been possible with a traditional trackpad or with a touchscreen device like an iPad or iPhone.

"They don't give pressure information, so when you touch the screen it only knows where you're touching, but not how hard," said Paymahn Moghadasian, a student who worked on the project from the University of Manitoba.