There are times when human
imagination and expertise,
coupled with the enabling
effect of advanced electronics
technology, can create something
really important for people.
No where is this more evident
than in the work done by Professor
Arai Kohei of Saga University’s
Faculty of Science and Engineering
in Japan. He’s developed a method
of typing by looking at the characters
required on a keyboard that’s
displayed on a computer screen.
The benefits of this are enormous
for people with disabilities that may
prevent them from using conventional
computer keyboards.
So just how does it work? When
the user looks at a keyboard
character shown on the computer
screen for a minimum of one second,
a camera detects their line of
vision and then activates the keyboard
character.
How does the system achieve
this accurate sensing of the user’s
line of vision? In this case, it is the
camera that registers the positions
of three reference points in and
around both of the user’s eyes.
These points are the inner corner of
the eye, the inner edge of the eyebrow,
and the centre of the pupil.
By correlating the information from
these six positions, the system calculates
the direction in which the eyes
are looking and the keyboard character
the user wishes to activate.
This stunning piece of technically
brilliant and altruistic work by
Professor Arai was prompted by the
arrival of a student at the university,
who was afflicted with cerebral
palsy. The university redesigned the
toilet facilities and installed ramps
throughout the university, but the
student’s mother had to operate the
student’s computer. That’s where
Professor Arai decided to step in.
At that time there were other
computer input systems for people
with disabilities, but they weren’t
user-friendly. They relied on the
application of electrodes to various
positions on the user’s face
to detect movement of the eyeball
and facial muscles. Other equally
user-unfriendly systems involved the
wearing of goggles with infrared
cameras. These would detect and
analyse the images produced on
the user’s retina. Suffice to say,
these systems where cumbersome
and also expensive, unlike Professor
Arai’s innovation.
Undoubtedly, the scope of applications
for his system are only limited
to the imagination of those who
either need to use the system or
those caring for people who cannot
use a keyboard either permanently
or, in the case of recovering hospital
patients, temporarily.
