International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology E-ISSN 2277 – 4106, P-ISSN 2347 – 5161 ©2015 INPRESSCO ® , All Rights Reserved Available at http://inpressco.com/category/ijcet Research Article 2304| IInternational Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.5, No.4 (Aug 2015) Eye Directive Wheelchair Janhavi S Kandalgaonkar * Electronics, Fr Conceicao Rodrigues College of Engineering, Bandra W, Mumbai 400050, India Accepted 30 June 2015, Available online 02 July 2015, Vol.5, No.4 (Aug 2015) Abstract The Eye Directive wheelchair is a mobility-aided device for persons with moderate/severe physical disabilities or chronic diseases as well as for the elderly. There are various interfaces for wheelchair available in the market, still they remain under-utilized, the reason being the ability, power and mind presence required to operate them. The proposed model is a possible alternative. In this model, we use the optical-type eye tracking system to control powered wheel chair. User’s eye movements are translated to screen position using the optical type eye tracking system, without any direct contact. When user looks at appropriate angle, then computer input system will send command to the software based on the angle of rotation of pupil i.e., when user moves his eyes balls left (move left), right (move right), straight (move forward) in all other cases wheel chair will stop. Also, obstacle detection sensors are connected to the arduino to provide necessary feedback for proper operation of the wheelchair and to ensure the user’s safety. The motors attached to the wheelchair support differential steering which avoids clumsy motion. The wheelchair has also been provided with a joystick control to ensure safe movement in case of tired vision and with a safety stop button, which will enable the user to stop the wheelchair at his own ease. Keywords: Eye directive wheelchair, differential steering 1. Introduction 1 The wheel chair model design illustrated here is a well- equipped and flexible motorized wheelchair for paralytic and motor disabled patients to drive the wheelchair without straining any of their physical posture. The gaze movement is tracked autonomously and the wheelchair is directed according to the eye position. It is an eco-friendly and cost-effective wheelchair that dissipates less power and can be fabricated using minimum resources. System has been designed taking into consideration the physical disability, thus it won’t affect the patient physically. Obstacle and ground clearance sensing is performed to ensure patient’s safety. Audible notification for the obstacles has been provided. Alternatively a joystick has been embedded for the control of wheelchair. 2. Design and Specifications In Image Capturing Module, images are captured using wireless camera and are sent to the base station (computer/ laptop) for further processing. In Microprocessor Interfacing, the generated electric digital output from the base station is used to direct the motors of the wheelchair. Microprocessor also takes care of the obstacles and the user inputs. The system’s functional block diagram is illustrated in fig.1 *Corresponding author: Janhavi S Kandalgaonkar Fig.1 Block diagram of the system Wireless camera: Eye of the user is captured with a pin hole wireless camera which transmits the images to the base station wirelessly. Computer Base station: The images received from the camera are processed using Open source Computer Vision library and the gaze movement is sent to the chair via X-Bee communication. Microcontroller: They are used to maintain wireless communication protocols and on the receiver side, it also takes care of obstacles and manual user inputs. Motor Driver: They provide the high current required to drive the motors. 3. Hardware Design 3.1 Image capturing device The images are captures using a Pin-hole wireless camera illustrated in fig.2. It offers effective