Eye Controlled Wheelchair with Asthenopia Detection

In this paper we present a low cost and real time system which enables a person with quadriplegia to control his wheelchair with eye movements. This system is enabled by voice control. Once enabled, it processes consecutive frames from the web cam to detect the direction of eye movement. Consequently, a signal is sent to the Raspberry pi micro-controller, to turn the motors in the desired direction. Detection is done by pupil monitoring using contours. Additionally, it detects Asthenopia, a disease caused by straining of the eye. This is achieved by monitoring the blink rate of the patient. Blink Detection is carried out using two methods. The first method uses a combination of SURF and Harris corner detection while second method uses facial landmarks.

I. Introduction

Around the world, between 250,000 and 500,000 cases of Quadriplegia gets reported every year. Quadriplegia is the paralysis caused by illness or injury that results in the partial or total loss of use of all four limbs and torso. Hence the person will be completely dependent on the caretaker. Assistive technology is required to facilitate mobility, communication, self-care or domestic activities. An estimated 20-30 of people with spinal cord injury show clinically significant signs of depression, which in turn has a negative impact on improvements in functioning and overall health [4].