Disabled can control wheelchair by moving their eyes thanks to new technology

Academics from Bradford University hope the breakthrough could help severely disabled people who up until now have not been able to move independently.

The research, led by Dr Prashant Pillai and involving masters student Suraj Verma, led to the development of a unique eye- controlled robot last year.

Now after months of rewriting the software they have discovered how to apply the same technology to an electric wheelchair.

Dr Pillai said: “We really had to go back to the beginning to make the technology work for electric wheelchairs.

“We are really excited by how well our prototype is working and have managed to reduce the reaction time from when the eye movement takes place down from a few seconds to just a few milliseconds – which will feel instantaneous for the user. We have also made the headset completely wireless.”

The technology works by the user wearing a tracking device on their face – like a pair of glasses – which has a small camera on it. By tracking the exact position of the iris, the system allows someone to move the wheelchair simply by looking in the direction they want to go.

Academics hope to use the technology with other electrical items and are also looking at removing the need for a headset by fixing wall-mounted cameras in the user’s home to pick up eye movement and wirelessly relay instructions to the technology used.

The long-term vision is of a fully-assisted home, where a user could just look at their television, lighting or music equipment to switch them on.

The final day of the British Science Festival at Bradford University also saw a survey presented which suggests that social networking on sites such as Facebook does not make people happy.

Dr Sam Roberts, of Chester University, found users of Facebook and text messaging had less enjoyable social interactions than those who met face to face.