Development of an Electrooculogram-based Human-Computer Interface for Hands-Free Control of Assistive Devices
Biswajeet Champaty1, Suraj Nayak2, Kunal Pal3

1Biswajeet Champaty, School of Engineering, Ajeenkya DY Patil University, Pune, Maharashtra, India.

2Suraj Nayak, Department of Biotechnology and Medical Engineering, National Institutes of Technology, Rourkela, Odisha, India.

3Kunal Pal, Department of Biotechnology and Medical Engineering, National Institutes of Technology, Rourkela, Odisha, India.

Manuscript received on 05 February 2019 | Revised Manuscript received on 12 February 2019 | Manuscript Published on 13 February 2019 | PP: 376-386 | Volume-8 Issue- 4S February 2019 | Retrieval Number: DS2893028419/2019©BEIESP

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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open-access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Abstract: The current study proposes the development of an electrooculogram (EOG)-based human-computer interface (HCI) for hands-free control of assistive devices. A commercially available robotic arm was customized and used as a representative assistive device. The EOG signal was acquired in a laptop using the developed EOG data acquisition module (EOG-DAQ). The acquired EOG signals were classified using a novel dynamic threshold algorithm. The control signals were generated by simultaneous events of hall-effect (HE) sensor activation and eye movement detection. This control mechanism was employed to avoid false activation of the assistive device. The transmission of the control signals to the robotic arm was performed using Xbee communication protocol. The performance of the developed system was evaluated by a customized pick-and-place experiment by 10 human volunteers. All the volunteers were able to perform the tasks successfully. The execution time could be reduced with a short training to the volunteers.

Keywords: Electrooculogram (EOG), Human-Computer Interface (HCI), Hall-Effect (HE).
Scope of the Article: Communication