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Eye Tracking project

Success story

Project on eye tracking technology for human-machine interaction

Challenge

The Covid-19 pandemic has put contactless interaction with computer, self-service kiosk, and other machine interfaces in the spotlight. Contactless technology is also vital for people who are bedridden or who suffer from motor disabilities. These contactless solutions are often challenging to calibrate and are expensive.

Our solution allows users to interact with a computer or any other interface by using eye tracking data from an everyday webcam.

The project

Deep learning models—one of the latest developments in AI—provide precision measurements of the position and orientation of the user’s head from webcam images.

The user’s pupils are also tracked to determine eye direction and detect blinking.

Lastly, the user’s line of sight, formed by the face and eyes, is extended virtually to the screen to create the mouse pointer. The pointer moves with the user’s head movements, and clicking is achieved by blinking the left or right eye as appropriate.

Results

The solution has two operating modes:

1. The mouse pointer is controlled by moving the head and the mouse is clicked by blinking.

2. Everything is controlled with the eyes.

The module processes the images captured at a rate of 30 frames/second at HD resolution (1080p). It is very easy to install on a computer and configure; it is also user-friendly and responsive.

The degree of precision the solution achieves makes it suitable for a wide range of applications, from writing on a virtual keyboard or reading email to listening to music.

Early testing has also been carried out with EDICO—a nonprofit specializing in brain-computer interfaces—and its founder Damien Perrier, who himself has ALS (Charcot’s disease). The main objective of this work is to improve the module’s usability and operation for those with significant disabilities.

It will also serve as a gateway to many other use cases that depend on head and eye movement, such as entertainment and driver-assistance systems.

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