VISUAL COMMUNICATION INTERFACE FOR SEVERE

SAVINO, MAURICIO; FERNÁNDEZ, ELMER ANDRÉS

Journal of Physics: Conference Series

IOPScience

Lugar: Bristol; Año: 2007 p. 1 - 5

1742-6596

During the last years several interfaces have been developed to allowcommunication to those patients suffering serious physical disabilities. In this work, acomputer based communication interface is presented. It was designed to allow communicationto those patients that cannot use neither their hands nor their voice but they can do it throughtheir eyes. The system monitors the eyes movements by means of a webcam. Then, by meansof an Artificial Neural Network, the system allows the identification of specified position onthe screen through the identification of the eyes positions. This way the user can control avirtual keyboard on a screen that allows him to write and browse the system and enables him tosend e-mails, SMS, activate video/music programs and control environmental devices. Apatient was simulated to evaluate the versatility of the system. Its operation was satisfactoryand it allowed the evaluation of the system potential. The development of this system requireslow cost elements that are easily found in the market.