Create grid-based user interfaces that are flexible and fully accessible.

Use it for:

• Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC): very simple to highly complex communication boards
• Media access: browse and play YouTube, web radios, podcasts
• Smart Home control: operate devices directly or integrate with platforms like openHAB or HomeAssistant

Accessible to everyone: can be operated via mouse click, touch, keyboard, single switch, or eye gaze — adaptable to any user's abilities.

• Cross-platform: works on PC, smartphone, and tablet across Windows, Linux, Android, and iOS
• No installation required, just open grid.asterics.eu in the browser (or install it to your desktop or home screen)
• Offline capable: works without an internet connection
• Optional cloud sync: synchronize your configuration across devices (with end-to-end encryption)
• Customizable grid system: flexible layouts tailored to any use case
• Wide range of input methods: click, touch, hover, scanning, keyboard, switches — or advanced methods like eye tracking, head tracking, or EMG muscle sensors (via the AsTeRICS Framework)

• Text-to-speech in multiple languages (depending on the device)
• Multilingual support: build communicators that support different languages
• Integrated search for free AAC symbols from ARASAAC and Open Symbols
• Word forms: enable automatic inflections (e.g. conjugations, plurals)
• Customizable keyboards with word prediction and self-learning dictionaries
• Global grid: define elements that appear across all pages (e.g. for core vocabulary)
• Progressive language: design communicators for various language development levels
• Share created sentences with any other app (e.g. WhatsApp)
• Built-in messenger: chat within the app using text, emojis, or pictograms – powered by Matrix

• Smart Home control: directly via HTTP actions or connect with openHAB or HomeAssistant
• Live elements: display status of the app or external devices
• Web radio: play any radio station - powered by radio-browser.info
• Podcasts: listen to any podcast - powered by podcastindex.org
• YouTube access: search and play videos directly within the app

There are three online versions of Asterics AAC:

• https://grid.asterics.eu/ current stable release
• https://grid.asterics.eu/latest/ current testing (beta) release, possibly unstable
• http://grid.asterics-foundation.org/ non-https version, but otherwise exactly the same app as https://grid.asterics.eu/ - may be used in cases where interaction with local resources (e.g. HTTP action) is needed and browsers are refusing it because of mixed content.

See User documentation or Asterics AAC Playlist on YouTube.

Also see Developer documentation (not finished, maybe outdated) and the Collaboration guide.

1. clone the project git clone git@github.com:asterics/Asterics-AAC.git
2. install node.js https://nodejs.org/
3. install yarn, see https://yarnpkg.com/
4. go to the directory of the cloned project and run yarn install
5. run npm run start and open http://localhost:9095

After yarn install the following commands are available:

1. npm run start --> starts a webserver serving the Asterics AAC on http://localhost:9095, does hot reloading if js-sources change.
2. npm run build --> builds the js-files in folder src to app/build folder.
3. npm run start-auth --> runs couch-auth locally and makes it possible to create "online users" within the locally running application. A local CouchDb instance is necessary in order to work.
4. npm run release -> releases the current version with a new tag and push it to gh-pages branch in order to be served at https://grid.asterics.eu/
5. npm run release-latest -> same as npm run release but with destination https://grid.asterics.eu/latest/
6. npm run test -> runs tests of the project using Jest.

While development is currently funded within research projects (see below), the non-profit AsTeRICS Foundation pays for the running server costs. If you want to contribute to these costs, you're very welcome to donate:

   

Asterics AAC was developed within several funded projects:

• 2018-2019: project Toolbox for Rapid Design of Smart Homes and Assistive Technologies (ToRaDes) at the UAS Technikum Wien, funded by the City of Vienna, Project 18-04
• 2019-2023: project Knowledge Hub for Accessible Technologies (WBT) at the UAS Technikum Wien, funded by the City of Vienna, Project 26-02
• 2022-2025: project Inclusion International (In2) at the UAS Technikum Wien, funded by the City of Vienna, Project 33-02
• 2024-2025: netidee project funding for Asterics AAC, Call 18
• 2024-2028: project Inclusion via digital augmentative and alternative communication (InDiKo) at the UAS Technikum Wien, funded by the City of Vienna, Project 38-09

Other people and organizations we want to thank:

• Thanks to ARASAAC for collaborating and providing their pictogram API
• Thanks to crowdin.com for providing a free open source license
• Thanks to browserstack.com for providing us free UI tests on their platform.
• Thanks to Alex Segler for the great Webradio API radio-browser.info which makes it possible to search and play webradios within Asterics AAC
• Thanks to podcastindex.org for a great global listing of podcasts and episodes
• Thanks to the makers of the API from opensymbols.org which makes it possible to search for open AAC symbols within Asterics AAC
• Thanks to ResponsiveVoice for providing an free non-commercial version, ResponsiveVoice-NonCommercial licensed under
• Thanks to open-meteo.com, which provides free weather data, which can be displayed within Asterics AAC
• Thanks to Titus Nemeth and Martin Tiefenthaler, who developed the Prima school font (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) on behalf of the Wiener Bildungsserver. The font is used in the app.
• Thanks to Titus Nemeth and Martin Tiefenthaler, who created the Prima font for schools (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) which is used in the app
• Thanks to all the developers of these projects, which are all used by Asterics AAC in production:
  • couch-auth
  • file-saver
  • hls.js
  • html-to-image
  • interactjs
  • jspdf
  • jszip
  • matrix-js-sdk
  • n-ary-huffman
  • navigo
  • n-ary-huffman
  • Object Model
  • PouchDB
  • predictionary
  • Stanford Javascript Crypto Library (SJCL)
  • superlogin-client
  • Vue.js
  • vue-i18n
  • vue-multiselect
  • Workbox
  • Bootstrap
  • fontawesome
  • dom-i18n
  • jQuery
  • jQuery context menu
  • jQuery UI
  • loglevel

Asterics AAC and its source code are licensed under the AGPL-3.0. All documentation and non-source code in this repository are licensed under the CC BY-SA 4.0.