Post date: Dec 12, 2011 4:32:38 PM
A teenager from the impoverished nation of Honduras has developed an inexpensive eyeball-tracking computer device that could dramatically change the lives of thousands of disabled people in developing countries. Andrew Schmertz reports.
REUTERS / LUIS FERNANDO CRUZ - Most of us use a mouse and keyboard to navigate around a computer screen.
But a teenager in Honduras is winning praise for developing an inexpensive eyeball tracking system that could change the way disabled people use computers.
17-year-old Luis Fernando Cruz developed the system after he learned about the plight of physically challenged students. INVENTOR, LUIS FERNANDO CRUZ, saying:
"In my last year of high school I met a fellow student who is paraplegic. After hearing their story, I decided to investigate a little more into how people (with disabilities) do things so I can be aware of the problems and then I discovered that such systems are very expensive. For example, a similar system costs more than $10,000 and I found that many people cannot pay this, especially in countries like Honduras."
But they can afford his system. It costs just 300 dollars, making the potentially life-changing technology accessible to thousands of disabled people in the developing world.
The system operates through electrodes built into a pair of inexpensive glasses.
The interface then tracks horizontal eye movement by measuring small electrical changes generated by the eye-ball.
The software translates these changes into inputs that choose letters in a grid, providing people with motor disabilities a new way to communicate
For Cruz, the eye-tracking keyboard was a natural follow-up to his first invention.
INVENTOR, LUIS FERNANDO CRUZ, saying:
"At 16, I developed the first video console in Honduras, the first video game console ever made in Honduras. Then I did other projects and then I became interested in the interface between humans and the computer so I began this project."
Cruz hopes his device can attract attention in the United States where he would like to attend college, and turn his passion for computer technology into a career.
Andrew Schmertz, Reuters.