Paper:
Development of a Gaze-Driven Electric Wheelchair with 360° Camera and Novel Gaze Interface
Junji Kawata* , Jiro Morimoto* , Yoshio Kaji** , Mineo Higuchi* , and Shoichiro Fujisawa*
*Faculty of Science and Engineering, Tokushima Bunri University
1314-1 Shido, Sanuki, Kagawa 769-2193, Japan
**Faculty of Human Life Sciences, Tokushima Bunri University
180 Nishihama, Yamashiro, Tokushima 770-8514, Japan
A novel gaze-based user interface (UI) is proposed for the remote control of robots and electric wheelchairs. A task-based experiment showed that this UI is more suitable for remote control than a conventional interface. The UI was applied to the control of a commercially available low-cost electric wheelchair. By using a 360° camera and an eye tracker that can be used outdoors, the visibility of obstacles and the usability of the gaze-driven electric wheelchair were greatly improved. The gaze-driven electric wheelchair exhibited good performance in a task-based evaluation experiment.
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