A low cost webcam based eye tracker for communicating through the eyes of young children with ASD

Evolutions in eye tracking systems and their distinct applications have led to their increased use in almost every field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). However, cost, setup and availability hinder the integration of these systems with daily use. This paper presents an infrared based detection technique to resist the ambient light variations, and combines scanning of a neighbourhood of 10×10 pixels and blob analysis to generate a gaze vector to calculate the gaze position. The main goal of this paper is to create a low cost and easy-to-setup webcam-based eye tracker that requires no calibration and using it as an assistive technology for young children with autism as a digital communication medium for a session of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).