UCSF using eye tracking to detect early stages of neurodegeneration

Sabes Lab at University of California, San Francisco are using high speed eye tracking systems to study eye movements as a tool for detecting neurodegenerative diseases. The data collected including response time, fixation accuracy and saccade velocity. These are important parameters that could identify approaching or existing neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer. This area holds a great market potential and is feasible in a near future as the remote systems are coming closer to meeting the requirements of tracker speed and accuracy.

The EyeHarp: An Eye Tracking Based Musical Instrument

The main goal of the Zacharias Vamvakousis EyeHarp project is to allow people with paralysis resulting from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis to play music using only their eyes. To build this, Zacharias was inspired by the EyeWriter open source initiative: "...a low-cost eye-tracking apparatus & custom software that allows graffiti writers and artists with paralysis resulting from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to draw using only their eyes". Zacharias spent only 50 euros to build his eye tracker using a modified version of the Sony PS3 eye camera. The application is implemented in openframeworks v0.6. 


Alternatively, the instrument can be controlled using the mouse pointer (MouseHarp version). Then the free software camera mouse can be used to control the instrument with head movements. Any technology that can take control of the mouse pointer can be used in order to control the instrument. That way the mouseHarp could be an appropriate instrument for many cases of people with physical disabilities. The mouseHarp version is completely independent from the eyeWriter project. Combining the mouseHarp source with the source of the eyeWriter project, we get the eyeHarp! A low-cost gaze controlled musical instrument! Both versions are free and open source.

The EyeHarp project is part of Zacharias master thesis in Sound And Music Computing in UPF, Barcelona. His supervisor is Rafael Ramirez.

A paper on the application has been published:

• Vamvakousis Z., Ramirez R. (2011) The Eyeharp: Aa Eye-Tracking-based Musical Instrument. SMC Conference 2011, Padova, Italy (PDF) 

Grinbath's EyeGuide

Texas based Grinbath recently announced the EyeGuide head mounted tracker. It's main competitive advantage is the low cost $1495, academic discounts are available ($1,179). The device captures eye images using a wireless camera, running on three AAA batteries, and streams these to a computer for processing. The package includes basic software for analysis and visualization.  See the whitepaper for more information. 

Proceedings from Novel Gaze-Controlled Applications 2011 online

The proceedings from the Novel Gaze-Controlled Applications 2011 conference are now available online. The conference that took place at the Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden during May 26-27 presented 11 talks covering a wide range of topics from gaming and gaze interaction to eye tracking solutions. Unfortunately I was unable to attend but luckily I'll have a couple of days interesting reading ahead. Kudos to Veronica Sundstedt and Charlotte Sennersten for organizing the event.

• Hyakunin-Eyesshu: a tabletop Hyakunin-Isshu game with computer opponent by the action prediction based on gaze detection
  Michiya Yamamoto, Munehiro Komeda, Takashi Nagamatsu, Tomio Watanabe
  Full text: PDF Online

• Gaze and voice controlled drawing
  Jan van der Kamp, Veronica Sundstedt
  Full text: PDF Online
  
  
• Eye tracking within the packaging design workflow: interaction with physical and virtual shelves
  Chip Tonkin, Andrew D. Ouzts, Andrew T. Duchowski
  Full text: PDF Online

• Designing gaze-supported multimodal interactions for the exploration of large image collections
  Sophie Stellmach, Sebastian Stober, Andreas Nürnberger, Raimund Dachselt
  Full text: PDF Online

• Comparison of gaze-to-objects mapping algorithms
  Oleg Špakov
  Full text: PDF Online

• Evaluation of a remote webcam-based eye tracker
  Henrik Skovsgaard, Javier San Agustin, Sune Alstrup Johansen, John Paulin Hansen, Martin Tall
  Full text: PDF Online
  
  
• An open-source low-cost eye-tracking system for portable real-time and offline tracking
  Nicolas Schneider, Peter Bex, Erhardt Barth, Michael Dorr
  Full text: PDF Online
  
  
• Gaze interaction from bed
  John Paulin Hansen, Javier San Augustin, Henrik Skovsgaard
  Full text: PDF Online
  
  
• Mobile gaze-based screen interaction in 3D environments
  Diako Mardanbegi, Dan Witzner Hansen
  Full text: PDF Online
  
  
• Towards intelligent user interfaces: anticipating actions in computer games
  Hendrik Koesling, Alan Kenny, Andrea Finke, Helge Ritter, Seamus McLoone, Tomas Ward
  Full text: PDF Online
  
  
• Exploring interaction modes for image retrieval
  Corey Engelman, Rui Li, Jeff Pelz, Pengcheng Shi, Anne Haake
  Full text: PDF Online

"Read my Eyes" - A presentation of the ITU Gaze Tracker

During the last month the guys at IT University of Copenhagen has been involved in the making of a video that's intended to introduce the ITU Gaze Tracker, an open source eye tracker, to a wider audience. The production has been carried out in collaboration with the Communication Department at the university and  features members of the group, students of the HCI class and Birger Bergmann Jeppesen who has had ALS since 1996. Many thanks to all involved, especially Birger & co for taking interest and participating in evaluation of the system.

ITU Gaze Tracker from itucph on Vimeo.
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1st International Workshop on Pervasive Eye Tracking and Mobile Eye-Based Interaction

During the UbiComp 2011 in Beijing in September the 1st International Workshop on Pervasive Eye Tracking and Mobile Eye-Based Interaction (PETMEI) will be held. Keynote speaker is Jeff B. Pelz who has considerable experience with eye tracking during natural tasks. The call for paper is out, see details below.

"Recent developments in mobile eye tracking equipment and automated eye movement analysis point the way toward unobtrusive eye-based human-computer interfaces that are pervasively usable in everyday life. We call this new paradigm pervasive eye tracking – continuous eye monitoring and analysis 24/7. The potential applications for the ability to track and analyze eye movements anywhere and anytime call for new research to further develop and understand visual behaviour and eye-based interaction in daily life settings. PETMEI 2011 will focus on pervasive eye tracking as a trailblazer for mobile eye-based interaction and eye-based context-awareness. We provide a forum for researchers from human-computer interaction, context-aware computing, and eye tracking to discuss techniques and applications that go beyond classical eye tracking and stationary eye-based interaction. We want to stimulate and explore the creativity of these communities with respect to the implications, key research challenges, and new applications for pervasive eye tracking in ubiquitous computing. The long-term goal is to create a strong interdisciplinary research community linking these fields together and to establish the workshop as the premier forum for research on pervasive eye tracking."

Important Dates

• Paper Submission: May 30, 2011
• Notification of Acceptance: June 27, 2011
• Camera-ready due: July 11, 2011
• Workshop: September 18, 2011

Topics
Topics of interest cover computational methods, new applications and use cases, as well as eye tracking technology for pervasive eye tracking and mobile eye-based interaction. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:


Methods

• Computer vision tools for face, eye detection and tracking
• Pattern recognition/machine learning for gaze and eye movement analysis
• Integration of pervasive eye tracking and context-aware computing
• Real-time multi-modality sensor fusion
• Techniques for eye tracking on portable devices
• Methods for long-term gaze and eye movement monitoring and analysis
• Gaze modeling for development of conversational agents
• Evaluation of context-aware systems and interfaces
• User studies on impact of and user experience with pervasive eye tracking
• Visual and non-visual feedback for eye-based interfaces
• Interaction techniques including multimodal approaches
• Analysis and interpretation of attention in HCI
• Dual and group eye tracking

Applications

• Mobile eye-based interaction with public displays, tabletops, and smart environments
• Eye-based activity and context recognition
• Pervasive healthcare, e.g. mental health monitoring or rehabilitation
• Autism research
• Daily life usability studies and market research
• Mobile attentive user interfaces
• Security and privacy for pervasive eye tracking systems
• Eye tracking in automotive research
• Eye tracking in multimedia research
• Assistive systems, e.g. mobile eye-based text entry
• Mobile eye tracking and interaction for augmented and virtual reality
• Eye-based human-robot and human-agent interaction
• Cognition-aware systems and user interfaces
• Human factors in mobile eye-based interaction
• Eye movement measures in affective computing

Technologies

• New devices for portable and wearable eye tracking
• Extension of existing systems for mobile interaction

See the submission details for more information. 

GazeGroup's Henrik Skovsgaard wins "Stars with brains" competiton

During the Danish Research Day 2011 Henrik Skovsgaard, PhD candidate at @ ITU Copenhagen, won the competition "Stars with Brains" (Stjerner med hjerner). Several high profile individuals (stars) were present including the Minister of Science, Princess Marie and Mayor Frank Jensen. The competition consisted of eight doctoral students (brains) from universities across Denmark who presented their research in a layman terms. The audience voted on their favorite candidate using SMS messaging whereby a panel of judges evaluated the participants. Later in the day Henrik was invited to an interview on the Aftenshow on national TV. Henriks research at the IT University of Copenhagen focuses primarily on gaze-based interaction as a communication tool for disabled and have participated in the development of the Gazegroup.org software. A big congrats to Henrik for the award, excellent public outreach and associated stardom!

PhD student Henrik Skovsgaard won the "Stars with brains". Photo: Tariq Mikkel Khan (source)

From right: Mayor Frank Jensen, HRH Princess Marie and Minister of Science Charlotte Sahl-Madsen. Photo: Tariq Mikkel Khan (source)

Specs for SMI GazeWear released

The specifications for the SMI GazeWear has just been announced. The head mounted tracker takes the shape of a pair of glasses and has a impressive set of features. It offers 30Hz binocular tracking (both eyes) at 0.5 deg accuracy with automatic parallax compensation for accurate gaze estimation over distances above 40cm. The dark pupil, corneal reflection based system has a tracking range of 70° horizontal / 55°. vertical angle. SMI has managed to squeeze in a HD scene camera located in the center of the frame which offers 1280x960 resolution at 30 frames per second. However, the viewing angle is slightly smaller than the tracking range at 63° horizontal and 41° vertical angle. The weight of the device is specified to 75 grams with the dimensions of 173x58x168mm (w/h/d) and is estimated to fit subjects above age 7.

SMI GazeWear

A mobile recording unit is offered which stores data on a SD card, weighs 420 grams, and has minimum of 40 minutes recording time. However, a subnotebook can be used to extend recording time towards two hours.   

With the new tracker SMI seriously improves their offering in the head mounted segment with a form factor that certainly appears more attractive to a wide range of applications. The specs stands up well against the Tobii glasses which has a similar form but is limited to monocular tracking and a lower resolution scene camera.  No details on availability is provided other than "coming soon", something we heard since late December. Once they are out the game is on. 

The flyer may be downloaded as pdf.

Development of a head-mounted, eye-tracking system for dogs (Williams et al, 2011)

Fiona Williams, Daniel Milss and Kun Guo at the University of Lincoln have developed a head mounted eye tracking system for our four legged friends. Using a special construct based on a head strap and a muzzle the device was mounted on the head of the dog where a dichroic mirror placed in front of one of the eyes reflects the IR image back to the camera.

The device was adapted from a VisionTrack system by IScan/Polhemus and contains two miniature cameras, one for the eye and one for the scene which is connected to a host workstation. When used with human subject such setup provides 0.3 deg. of accuracy according to the manufacturer. Williams et al obtained an accuracy of 2-3 deg. from a single dog when using a special calibration method containing five points located on a cross which was mounted at the tip of the muzzle. Using positive reenforcement the dog was gradually trained to wear and fixate targets which I'm sure wasn't an easy task.

Abstract:
Growing interest in canine cognition and visual perception has promoted research into the allocation of visual attention during free-viewing tasks in the dog. The techniques currently available to study this (i.e. preferential looking) have, however, lacked spatial accuracy, permitting only gross judgements of the location of the dog’s point of gaze and are limited to a laboratory setting. Here we describe a mobile, head-mounted, video-based, eye-tracking system and a procedure for achieving standardised calibration allowing an output with accuracy of 2–3◦. The setup allows free movement of dogs; in addition the procedure does not involve extensive training skills, and is completely non-invasive. This apparatus has the potential to allow the study of gaze patterns in a variety of research applications and could enhance the study of areas such as canine vision, cognition and social interactions.

Fiona J. Williams, Daniel S. Mills, Kun Guo, Development of a head-mounted, eye-tracking system for dogs, Journal of Neuroscience Methods, Volume 194, Issue 2, 15 January 2011, Pages 259-265, ISSN 0165-0270, DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2010.10.022. (available from ScienceDirect)

Fraunhofer CMOS-OLED Headmounted display with integrated eye tracker

"The Fraunhofer IPMS works on the integration of sensors and microdisplays on CMOS backplane for several years now. For example the researchers have developed a bidirectional microdisplay, which could be used in Head-Mounted Displays (HMD) for gaze triggered augmented-reality (AR) aplications. The chips contain both an active OLED matrix and therein integrated photodetectors. The combination of both matrixes in one chip is an essential possibility for system integrators to design smaller, lightweight and portable systems with both functionalities." (Press release)

"Rigo Herold, PhD student at Fraunhofer IPMS and participant of the development team, declares: This unique device enables the design of a new generation of small AR-HMDs with advanced functionality. The OLED microdisplay based Eyetracking HMD enables the user on the one hand to overlay the view of the real world with virtual contents, for example to watch videos at jog. And on the other hand the user can select the next video triggered only by his gaze without using his hands." (Press release)

Sensor integrates both OLED display and CMOS imaging sensor. 

Rigo Herold will present the system at the SID 2011 exhibitor forum at May 17, 2011 4:00 p.m.: Eyecatcher: The Bi-Directional OLED Microdisplay with the following specs:

• Monochrome 
• Special Eyetracking-Algorithm for HMDs based on bidirectional microdisplays
• Front brightness: > 1500 cd/m²

Poster was presented at ISSCC 2011 : Industry Demonstration Session (IDS). Click to enlarge

In addition there is a paper titled "Bidirectional OLED microdisplay: Combining display and image sensor functionality into a monolithic CMOS chip" published with the following abstract:. 

"Microdisplays based on organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) achieve high optical performance with excellent contrast ratio and large dynamic range at low power consumption. The direct light emission from the OLED enables small devices without additional backlight, making them suitable for mobile near-to-eye (NTE) applications such as viewfinders or head-mounted displays (HMD). In these applications the microdisplay acts typically as a purely unidirectional output device [1–3]. With the integration of an additional image sensor, the functionality of the microdisplay can be extended to a bidirectional optical input/output device. The major aim is the implementation of eye-tracking capabilities in see-through HMD applications to achieve gaze-based human-display-interaction." Available at IEEE Xplore.