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THE ICT AND THE DISABILITY

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A new technology allows you to control games with your eyes

Thursday, May 27, 2010

It will for people with mobility problems are more entertainment options

A team of students from Imperial College London has developed a novel system that can play a traditional game using only the eyes. The feat was made possible thanks to the combination of a webcam that records eye movements and a computer program. The main advantage of this system is its price: for its manufacture are needed only 30 euros. Therefore, its creators hope the technology will serve to applications and more sophisticated games, and allow people with mobility problems have more entertainment options. By Yaiza Martínez.


Estudiante probando el videojuego. Fuente: Imperial College  London.
Estudiante probando el videojuego. Student testing the game. Fuente: Imperial College London. Source: Imperial College London.

A team of students from Imperial College London , UK, has developed a computer game that is controlled by eye movement.

The technology used for the development of this game will allow people with serious physical disabilities, like paralysis, become players of video games for the first time, Imperial College London published a statement , among other potential applications.

The students adapted a game originally released in 1972 and called Pong , which involves one or two players control the ball movement on the screen, moving the pallets vertically on both sides of this, as in a game of tennis ping pong table.

To do so, the player must put special glasses containing an infrared light and a web camera that records the movement of one eye.

The camera is connected to a laptop, which in turn has a computer program that synchronizes the movements of the eye with the game.

For now, the prototype of the game is very simple, but the students believe that technology has made it possible could be adapted to control other games and more sophisticated applications, using just eye movements.

Online cheap and available technology

One of the main benefits of this new technology is that it is cheap: using accessories as currently marketed, the system can be manufactured for less than 30 euros.

Other systems used by scientists to study the movement of the eyes and brain are around 30,000 euros, say the researchers.

Aldo Faisal , supervisor of the student team that created the prototype (belonging to the departments of computer science and bioengineering at Imperial College Lodon) that the prototype was created using items that can be purchased at a store, like a webcam.

Since one does not require expensive equipment, the technology has huge potential, says Faisal.

Scientists will allow this technology is available online, for anyone interested in creating new applications and games, and are optimistic they can encontrársele profits.

More complex tasks

In particular, the creators of this version of Pong want the system to provide entertainment options for people with limited mobility.

In the future, they say, people can turn the pages of electronic books only by blinking or blow their favorite song with just an eye movement.

Scientists are excited about the idea that their technology will serve so that others can develop new games and applications, but also continuing to work to redefine the system so that it can record the movements of both eyes, not one.

If they succeed, they may conduct more complex tasks with their eyes only, as direct a motorized wheelchair, for example.




Revolution in the gaming industry

ÉThis is not the first example we know of games that can be controlled remotely without touching a keyboard or other control device.

In 2008, for example, we talked about the emergence of the first device that controlled only with the mind games , by recording the player's brain waves, and the ability to relate these to order specific actions in the screen using a software .

Created by the company Emotiv Systems, the first device consisted of a helmet full of sensors for the recording of brain waves through a wireless connection, were later sent in the form of instructions to a computer program.

On the other hand, we have also spoken Tendencias21 of a new system, called iPoint Presenter , allowing control over the computer only with hand gestures, in the style of what we saw in the futuristic movie "Minority Report" and the Vocal Joystick which made simple vowel sounds into cursor movements on screen.

All of these devices pose significant progress towards the transformation of our relations with computers, experts say. Some of them also pursued a clear objective: to revolutionize the entertainment industry, especially video games.

Source: Hoy tecnología

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