Demens ANalyse af ALS Gennem Eye TRacking

User calibration and large screens are generally a nuisance to patients and caregivers and have a significant impact on their lives to the point in which calibration may prevent proper execution of tasks. Calibration is needless when the sole purpose of the eye tracker is a simple task such as to call for help, turn on a lamp or control the volume on a TV. EUROPA will redesign and extend eye trackers and the corresponding interaction through plug-and-play technologies that efficiently supports key daily tasks and which would neither require user calibration nor large screens. EUROPA considers communication in broad terms (not only typing) and supports and enhances the interactive capabilities of the patients through the different stages of ALS with a single communication system but using different modalities (head and eye movements, touch and pupil changes). By avoiding large screens, the system will not only be cheaper and mobile but also ensure a higher degree of social inclusion, since the patient will not need to be obscured behind a large screen. The EUROPA eye tracker is currently capable of making uncalibrated selections on both the device and on a smart phone and offers continuous control using eye-base head gestures.

We intend to explore the idea of using uncalibrated and implicitly calibrated eye tracking for people with disabilities (in particular ALS and elderly). This also includes development of new techniques (e.g. deep learning) to robustly find relevant eye features.