Comments on: Lightweight eye tracker http://hackaday.com/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/ Fresh hacks every day Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:02:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Dave Neary http://hackaday.com/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/comment-page-1/#comment-79134 Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:36:34 +0000 http://hackaday.iheartcashews.com:8181/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/#comment-79134 Hi all,

Trying to cost this out, and I’m coming up to $200 for the two cameras, another $12 for a laser diode, and a few cents each for an IR LED and voltage regulator, but I’m missing the “how to hook it up to the computer” bit, and also how to power it – do we need to have a rechargable battery? Powered over USB? Do we communicate over bluetooth, IR or something else?

I’d be interested in building one of these as a project and getting it working as a pointer.

Cheers,
Dave.

]]> By: noone http://hackaday.com/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/comment-page-1/#comment-16364 Fri, 07 Jul 2006 04:20:24 +0000 http://hackaday.iheartcashews.com:8181/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/#comment-16364 i would love this, to bad i have a stigmatism

]]> By: Igor Carron http://hackaday.com/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/comment-page-1/#comment-16363 Thu, 22 Jun 2006 12:56:42 +0000 http://hackaday.iheartcashews.com:8181/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/#comment-16363 Here is an improvement on this eye tracker by Derrick Parkhurst ( http://hcvl.hci.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/parkhurst.cgi ) at Iowa State.

http://hcvl.hci.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/openEyeswiki/index.cgi?action=search&search=openEyes

A mobile eye tracker (with software) that seems to cost about $300 without the attendant PC. Outstanding.

Igor.

]]> By: Igor Carron http://hackaday.com/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/comment-page-1/#comment-16362 Sat, 14 Jan 2006 19:35:04 +0000 http://hackaday.iheartcashews.com:8181/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/#comment-16362 Great catch.

I wonder how it will help in developing some hardware that can help in diagnosing autism. I have written about this here.
(part 1)
http://nuit-blanche.blogspot.com/2005/06/eye-tracking-machines-and-autism.html
(part 2)
http://nuit-blanche.blogspot.com/2005/11/eye-tracking-machines-and-autism.html

The reason I wrote these entries is mostly because each commercial eye tracking device cost at least $20,000.

Igor.

]]> By: SOI Sentinel http://hackaday.com/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/comment-page-1/#comment-16361 Sat, 14 Jan 2006 19:12:15 +0000 http://hackaday.iheartcashews.com:8181/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/#comment-16361 There’s actually several ways to track an eye, this is probably one of the easiest. Before cheap and plentifule mini cameras, they did it with two IR LEDs and two IR photodiodes mounted in pairs on the sides and top and bottom of the eye. These were pulsed and the alternating photodiode readings taken to get an IR intensity scale. Fairly accurate IIRC, 1-2 degrees.

Another popular way is to directly EOG the eyes. Place either passive or active electrodes on the bridge of the nose, top and bottom of the eyes, the side of the eyes, and a reference behind the ear (6 electrodes total). The eyes have something like a 100mV potential front to back, so the electrodes would pick up this voltage difference as your eyes rotated. This method was possibly more accurate, but either needed stick-on electrodes or expensive silver active electrodes. Electrode placement had to be spot on and it had to be recalibrated for each user, however.

The army uses direct laser illumination of the eye for tracking in the prototype Comanche helmets. I don’t know if that tech will filter down to the Apaches now that Comanche is canceled.

Oh, and speaking of head tracking, Apache helicopters do head tracking by using two sensors mounted behind the pilots head and two IR(?) LEDs on either side of the pilot’s helmet. It’s been a while since I read that manual.

I’m personally interested in getting a rugged eye tracking system designed for portability, as I’m also slowly working on a head mounted laser or LED monochrome scanning display to go along with it. Hmmm… maybe I’ll have to go learn my VHDL and open source the hardware variant.

]]> By: monster http://hackaday.com/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/comment-page-1/#comment-16360 Sat, 14 Jan 2006 09:39:04 +0000 http://hackaday.iheartcashews.com:8181/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/#comment-16360 a setup where you have this on, some cameras mounted to triangulate your head in 3-d, and a switch you bite with your teeth could let quads (like christopher reeve was) use computers easily, and since with a bit of work you can make computers do just about anything, the possibilities are endless!

]]> By: Fahad http://hackaday.com/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/comment-page-1/#comment-16373 Sat, 14 Jan 2006 05:15:44 +0000 http://hackaday.iheartcashews.com:8181/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/#comment-16373 This is all well and good, but without ready-made setups available for commercial purchase, this hack will stay out of the hands of many willing armchair developers. It’s like Lego Mindstorms. Sure robotics existed before, but Mindstorms put into a package most non-hardware hackers were able to deal with, and the same thing needs to happen to this.

We, the software-only/mostly hackers, need a prepackaged setup, complete with assembled or ready-to-assemble hardware and bundled software to get us started. And then, you’ll see a boom in all sorts of hobby applications!

Can’t wait to get my hands on one then!

BTW, has anyone commented on the long-term effects of constant IR to the eye?

]]> By: oliver jenkins http://hackaday.com/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/comment-page-1/#comment-16372 Sat, 14 Jan 2006 02:04:28 +0000 http://hackaday.iheartcashews.com:8181/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/#comment-16372 I can see (no pun intended) an application for this type of hardware in usability studies (http://www.poynterextra.org/eyetrack2004/main.htm).
Specifically for software interfaces such as web pages.

You would want to replace the scene camera with a recording of the current screen that the user/subject is working on.

I’d be quite interested as to how users interact with the sites I work on.

]]> By: Amos http://hackaday.com/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/comment-page-1/#comment-16371 Sat, 14 Jan 2006 01:05:16 +0000 http://hackaday.iheartcashews.com:8181/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/#comment-16371 There are lots of good files if you drop back into the publications folder

http://www.cis.rit.edu/people/faculty/pelz/publications/ETRA04_rothkopf_pelz.pdf

]]> By: Nanomonkey http://hackaday.com/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/comment-page-1/#comment-16370 Sat, 14 Jan 2006 00:55:06 +0000 http://hackaday.iheartcashews.com:8181/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/#comment-16370 This reminds me of the pupil pistol from Robotech. I sure hope this doesn’t end up in the military’s hands…the pupil pistol in Robotech started out for playing games and ended up in use for the hovertanks if I’m not mistaken.

]]> By: austin young http://hackaday.com/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/comment-page-1/#comment-16369 Sat, 14 Jan 2006 00:51:36 +0000 http://hackaday.iheartcashews.com:8181/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/#comment-16369 woohoo, my first submitted hack made it!!

]]> By: grayskies http://hackaday.com/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/comment-page-1/#comment-16368 Fri, 13 Jan 2006 21:38:19 +0000 http://hackaday.iheartcashews.com:8181/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/#comment-16368 this is really cool, and the applications for the disabled would be awesome if they were F/OSS.

We had a family friend get in an accident and he was quadriplegic, and his eye-tracking computer system was nearly $10,000.

]]> By: Ed http://hackaday.com/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/comment-page-1/#comment-16367 Fri, 13 Jan 2006 20:19:00 +0000 http://hackaday.iheartcashews.com:8181/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/#comment-16367 Looks like a great idea, I can see this being used by handicap people to communicate, use computers or even play games, who knows, maybe in the future Hawking will own you in HALO 4?

Btw, I found some infrared hazard notes here: http://www.twi.co.uk/j32k/protected/band_13/faq_radiation.html
and here:
http://www.potterymaking.org/safetyeyes.html

]]> By: Joe Strout http://hackaday.com/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/comment-page-1/#comment-16366 Fri, 13 Jan 2006 20:16:29 +0000 http://hackaday.iheartcashews.com:8181/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/#comment-16366 I wonder if this could be adapted to make a head tracker? Attach a strong IR source at camera to the top of the monitor, and find the bright and dark dots that appear/disappear in sync with the IR modulation to locate the eyes. That could be used to then update the display on the screen, making it appear as a window onto a 3D world (a technique known as fishtank VR).

]]> By: AllenKll http://hackaday.com/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/comment-page-1/#comment-16365 Fri, 13 Jan 2006 19:28:27 +0000 http://hackaday.iheartcashews.com:8181/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/#comment-16365 This is really cool, I remember someone asking for this not too long ago, I hoep he/she is still reading.

]]>