Press Release: Wild-Eye

Wild-Eye – a passive eye gazing tracking platform that provides an alternative communication channel for persons with impaired motor skills

The University of Malta in partnership with Seasus Ltd, have developed Wild-Eye, a novel passive eye-gazing tracking platform which provides an alternative communication channel for persons with impaired motor skills. Through this project users will be able to perform mundane activities such as operating a computer, hence improving their quality of life and independence, as well as providing an additional access method for all, permitting an auxiliary control input for computer applications, such as control of IOT devices.
 
The €193,943.38 project was funded through the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) FUSION R&I Programme.
 
Addressing a Public Engagement Event which was held on the 25th of January 2022 at the Chaplain’s Hall at the EsploraPlanetarium Building, Kalkara the Hon. Owen Bonnici, Minister for Equality, Research and Innovation said “This is truly research and innovation at its best, put to really good use. The Wildeye project will definitely leave a concrete, positive impact on people’s daily lives. This is exactly why we will never tire out of affirming the importance of investment in R & I to generate economic wealth for our country, but also and most importantly to truly improve people’s lives.”
 
Dr Melchior Cini, MCST Deputy Director, R & I Programmes Unit, said “Innovation is all about moving away from processes which have stagnated and are only retained due to a fear of failure when it comes to implementing new approaches. It is about taking risks and being creative. Innovation requires collaboration, implementation, and value creation. Today, we had the opportunity to appreciate the remarkable accomplishments of a consortium composed of competent engineers and industrious academics. Through hard work and focussed research, they shifted the paradigms of exisiting tracking-application technologies and broke new ground in this area” He added that “MCST is optimistic that our investment in such projects will continue to support those who are motivated and determined enough to find solutions to the complex questions faced by our society.”
 
Wild-Eye Project Leader said “There is growing interest in the development of technologies that provide alternative communication channels, with eye-gaze tracking being one of the most developed.  Our ambition is to develop ubiquitous eye-gaze tracking technology such that users may control devices without requiring them to be sitting in front of a computer.  WildEye is one further step along this road”. In the developed platform, eye and head movements are captured in a stream of image frames acquired by a webcam, and subsequently processed by a computer in order to estimate the eye-gaze direction by combining the eye and head pose components. The estimated eye-gaze is then mapped to the computer screen, to control a graphical user interface that has been purposely developed based on the available gaze estimation accuracy. The graphical user interface features 15 buttons that may be activated by gazing upon them for a preset period of time, or by blinking the eyes to confirm the selection.
 
Eye movements have long been recognised to provide an alternative channel to communicate with, or even the possibility to control machines, such as a computer. The ample information inherent in the eye movements has attracted interest through the years, leading to a host of eye-gaze tracking applications in several fields, including assistive communication, driver assistance, and marketing and advertising research.
 
A panel discussion took place around the field with the participation of the project team members and was moderated by an Esplora Science Communicator. The event was streamed live and may be followed via the following link: https://fb.watch/aLDY_yofC7/

WildEye – Pjattaforma diġitali ġdida li tittraċċa l‑movimenti tal‑għajnejn u tipprovdi mezz ta’ komunikazzjoni alternattiva għal persuni li għandhom nuqqas ta’ mobilità.

B’finanzjament ta’ €193,943.38 permezz tal‑Programm R&I Fusion tal‑Kunsill Malti għax‑Xjenza u t‑Teknoloġija (MCST), ġie żviluppat il‑proġett WildEye mill‑Università ta’ Malta fi sħubija ma’ Seasus Ltd. Din il‑pjattaforma ġdida titraċċa l‑movimenti tal‑għajnejn u tipprovdi mezz ta’ komunikazzjoni alternattiva għal persuni li għandhom nuqqas ta’ mobilità. Permezz ta’ dan il‑proġett, dawn il‑persuni se jkunu jistgħu jkomplu bl‑attivitajiet tagħhom ta’ kuljum bħal pereżempju jħaddmu kompjuter u b’hekk ikunu qed itejbu l‑kwalità tal‑ħajja u l‑indipendenza tagħhom. Dan huwa metodu addizzjonali li jippermetti kontroll ieħor għall‑applikazzjonijiet tal‑kompjuter, bħal kontroll ta’ apparat IOT.

Waqt li kien qed jindirizza avveniment bil‑parteċipazzjoni tal‑pubbliku li sar fil‑25 ta’ Jannar 2022 fil‑bini tal‑EsploraPlanetarium, il‑Kalkara, l‑Onor. Owen Bonnici, Ministru għall‑Ugwaljanza, ir‑Riċerka u l‑Innovazzjoni qal: “Din hija tassew ir‑riċerka u l‑innovazzjoni fl‑aqwa tagħha, li qed tintuża verament għall‑ġid. Il‑proġett Wildeye żgur li se jħalli impatt konkret u pożittiv fuq il‑ħajja ta’ kuljum tan‑nies. Huwa proprju għalhekk li aħna qatt ma nieqfu naffermaw l‑importanza tal‑investiment fir‑Riċerka u l‑Innovazzjoni biex jiġi ġġenerat il‑ġid ekonomiku għal pajjiżna, iżda wkoll biex verament intejbu l‑ħajja tan‑nies.”

Dr Melchior Cini, Assistent Direttur tad‑Diperatiment tal‑Programmi tal‑R & I l‑MCST, qal li “l‑Innovazzjoni tevita li nehlu f’sistemi li huma staġnati minhabba il‑biża’ ta’ falliment . Hija mod kif tieħu riskji kalkulati u kif tkun kreattiv. L‑innovazzjoni teħtieġ il‑kollaborazzjoni, l‑implimentazzjoni u l‑ħolqien ta’ valur. Illum kellna l‑opportunità li napprezzaw il‑kisbiet ta’ konsorzju kompost minn inġiniera kompetenti u akkademiċi ħawtiela.” Huwa żied jgħid li permezz ta riċerka intensiva, irnexxielhom ibiddlu l‑paradigmi ta’ applikazzjonijiet ta’ teknoloġiji li jagħrfu ċ‑ċaqliq tal‑għajnejn, u li fetħu toroq ġodda f’dan il‑qasam. “Aħna ninsabu ottimisti li l‑investiment tagħna tal‑MCST se jkompli jkun ta’ sostenn għal dawk li huma motivati u determinati sabiex isibu soluzzjonijiet għal mistoqsijiet kumplessi tas‑socjeta taghna.”

Il‑Mexxej ta’ dan il‑proġett, il‑Prof. Kenneth Camilleri, temm jgħid li, “It‑teknoloġiji li jippermettu modi alternattivi ta’ kommunikazzjoni huma ta’ interess kbir, u l‑iżvilupp tagħhom qiegħed dejjem jiżdied. Waħda mit‑teknoloġiji l‑aktar żviluppati hija dik li tuża l‑moviment tal‑għajnejn bħala mezz alternattiv ta’ komunikazzjoni. Il‑mira tagħna hija li niżviluppaw din it‑teknoloġija b’tali mod li wieħed ikun jista’ jikkontrolla apparat li jkollu madwaru mingħajr ma’ jkollu jkun bilqiegħda quddiem kompjuter. WildEye huwa pass ieħor lejn din il‑mira aħħarija”.

F’din il‑pjattaforma żviluppata, il‑movimenti tal‑għajnejn u tar‑ras jinqabdu f’sensiela ta’ ritratti minn webcam, u minnufih jiġu pproċessati minn kompjuter sabiex tiġi kkalkulata d‑direzzjoni tal‑ħarsa tal‑għajnejn billi tgħaqqad il‑komponenti tal‑għajn u tar‑ras. Minn din id‑direzzjoni tal‑ħarsa tal‑għajnejn jiġi identifikat il‑punt fuq l‑iskrin tal‑kompjuter fejn tkun qed iħares biex tikkontrolla buttuni fuq l‑iskrin li ġie żviluppat apposta skont il‑preċiżjoni tal‑ħarsa tal‑individwu. L‑iskrin fih 15‑il buttuna li jistgħu jiġu attivati billi tħares lejhom għal perjodu ta’ ħin, jew billi tteptep għajnejk biex tikkonferma l‑għażla.

Il‑movimenti tal‑għajnejn ilhom rikonoxxuti li jipprovdu mezz alternattiv ta’ komunikazzjoni, jew saħansitra li jagħtu l‑possibbiltà li jikkontrollaw l‑kompjuter. L‑informazzjoni kbira li tinstab fil‑movimenti tal‑għajnejn ġibdet l‑interess matul is‑snin li wasslet għal għadd ta’ strumenti li jistgħu jintużaw biex jittraċċaw l‑għajnejn f’diversi oqsma, bħal fil‑komunikazzjoni assistita, assistenza lis‑sewwieq, u riċerka dwar il‑kummerċjalizzazzjoni u r‑reklamar.

Saret diskussjoni minn panel dwar is‑suġġett bil‑parteċipazzjoni tal‑membri tat‑tim tal‑proġett u kienet immexxija minn Komunikatur tax‑Xjenza tal‑Esplora. L‑avveniment ġie mxandar live u jista’ jiġi segwit permezz tal‑ħolqa hawn taħt: https://fb.watch/aLDY_yofC7/