Το work with title Control of humanoid robot through eye tracking interface for people with moving disabilities by Apostolopoulos Athanasios-Iakovos is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Bibliographic Citation
Athanasios-Iakovos Apostolopoulos, "Control of humanoid robot through eye tracking interface for people with moving disabilities.", Diploma Work, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Technical University of Crete, Chania, Greece, 2024
https://doi.org/10.26233/heallink.tuc.99086
In the field of assistive technologies for the mobility impaired people, this diploma thesis embarks on a journey motivated by the profound aspiration to enhance the quality of life for individuals facing total mobility impairment. Confronted with day-to-day challenges that often necessitate reliance on others for assistance, the quest for alternative methods to provide accessibility becomes imperative. This journey involves a meticulous exploration of diverse technologies, tools, and assets to serve the specific needs of individuals with tetraplegia within the broader domain of assistive technologies. More specifically, our research addresses the overarching problem by combining robotic systems and eye-tracking technology, seeking to empower individuals with limited autonomy through innovative and intuitive solutions and to bridge the social gap by providing some alternative autonomy. Our approach centers on integrating eye-tracking technology into a Unity-created application and establishing a communication protocol through the Robot Operating System (ROS) framework to control a robotic system in simulation. The result is an intuitive, lean, and user-friendly application to control a humanoid robot. While several challenges emerged in the course of the thesis, such as compatibility issues and software limitations, the end system lays the groundwork for the development of future applications in the field of assistive technologies. A multifaceted user evaluation of the system's performance is also discussed. Overall, our approach encapsulates a pioneering effort in assistive technologies, illuminating a path toward a more inclusive and accessible future.