Put some 鈥渃rap鈥� technology with some smart software and you get one life-changing solution. People who can鈥檛 move their arms and legs will soon be able to attach a 拢50 gadget to their wheelchair along with their laptop to allow them to drive around using just their eyes 鈥� without having to stare at any controls.
People who have lost the use of their body because of multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injury, for example, can usually move their eyes, because eyes are directly connected to the brain. Several technologies allow people to stare at arrows on a computer and direct the movement of a wheelchair, but there is a considerable delay between the movement of the eyes and the chair, and the person can鈥檛 look around while manipulating the chair.
To overcome this problem, at Imperial College London and his colleagues have developed software that uses subtle eye movements to distinguish when a person is looking around and when they want to move. The team will showcase the technology at the this weekend in London.
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鈥淐urrent eye tracking software doesn鈥檛 allow you to look around while moving,鈥� says Faisal. 鈥淎nd technologies that use brainwaves to control wheelchairs aren鈥檛 common because it takes many months to train a person to use them, and then you need to really concentrate to move 鈥� it鈥檚 not natural.鈥�
Gazing intently
His team has observed how people move their eyes when walking around and used the data to build software that decodes a person鈥檚 intentions. The finished system involves two cameras 鈥� one trained on each eye 鈥� that observe eye movements and pass that information onto a laptop computer, which works out which direction and how far into the distance a person is looking.
But then you鈥檝e got the King Midas problem, says Faisal. 鈥淓verything he touched turned into gold, and we don鈥檛 want to move everywhere we look.鈥�
Exactly how they solved this problem is still under wraps, he says, but it involved analysing subtle eye movement patterns to distinguish those relevant to locomotion from those we use when merely looking around. 鈥淥ur software can tell the difference between looking at someone using a coffee machine, and wanting to walk over to that coffee machine,鈥� says Faisal.
The system responds within 10 milliseconds to a person鈥檚 intention to move. Typically anything under about 15 or 20 milliseconds feels instantaneous, says Faisal.
The team has tested the system on people without physical disabilities and found that they were able to steer through a crowded building faster and with fewer mistakes than with current technologies that track eye movements.
Faisal says the team hopes to have the system ready for sale within three years. If successful, it could be adapted for other uses, like piloting a drone or a plane. It could also work in advertising to get people鈥檚 attention as they are window shopping, say. If the storefront could watch your eyes and tell from the pattern of your eye movement that you are about to walk away, it might change and give you another advertisement to keep you interested.
The whole system is likely to cost about 拢50. 鈥淥ur technology can be crap and cheap because all the smartness is in the software,鈥� says Faisal.
