Abstract
A powered wheelchair is a mobility device for moderate or severe physical disabilities or chronic disorders. Many patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and quadriplegia have to depend on others to move their wheelchairs. Although assistive mobility devices, such as manual and electrical wheelchairs, exist, these options do not suit all individuals who suffer from activity limitations. This project aims to use information technology to assist people with disabilities to move their wheelchairs independently in order to enjoy their lives and integrate into their community. The proposed hands-free wheelchair is based on an eye-controlled system. Different measurement systems for the eye trackers have been evolved, such as search coil, electrooculography, video-oculography, and infrared oculography systems. Usually, the eye-tracking systems add the techniques of eyeball tracking with hardware equipment and software. The movement of eyeballs is used to control the wheelchair movements instead of hands. The infrared eye-tracking system was adopted in this project for several advantages. To achieve this goal, a system consisting of a head-mounted eye-tracker, a powered wheelchair, and an obstacles detector has been designed and tested. The head-mounted eye-tracking system uses infrared light emitters and sensors in gaze detection. By measuring the intensity of the infrared light reflected from the corneal. The changes of the reflected intensity can be translated into signals to determine an eye position. After the gaze direction is determined, it is used to steer the wheelchair accordingly. Furthermore, the chair includes safety features that implement proximity sensors to prevent crashing into objects.