A Robust Noninvasive Eye Control Approach For Disabled People Based on Kinect 2.0 Sensor

A noninvasive eye control approach based on Kinect 2.0 was proposed to improve life quality for people with upper limb disabilities. First, Kinect 2.0 was used to track the critical points of the canthus and eyelid. Second, the greyscale differential algorithm was used to position the iris. Finally, a novel eye control model based on the canthus coordinates, central coordinates of pupils, and eyelid distance was established for cursor control. To reduce the calibration difficulty and the interference from eye jitter on the control, incremental indirect control was performed to ensure smooth and gradual cursor motion to the fixation point. To solve the Midas touch problem, an eye switch was proposed to reduce excessive unconscious cursor movement. Benefitting from the Kinect 2.0 advantages of high resolution, high efficiency, and good stability, the control speed reached 19.9fps in MATLAB, which meets the requirement for real-time control. The method also offers good adaptability to various noise sources, such as rotation, occlusion, and scaling. The experimental results suggest the availability and robustness of the new approach.