Projects/2013–2016

Eye-Gaze-Controlled Wheelchair

NYU Abu Dhabi · with University of Ottawa

CHALLENGE

Enable a person with severely limited voluntary movement to navigate unfamiliar spaces using eye gaze and assisted control.

MY CONTRIBUTION

Designed, integrated, and field-tested the wheelchair navigation stack, combining gaze tracking, obstacle sensing, and shared autonomy.

OUTCOME

Evaluated in a home case study with a person living with ALS and published in IEEE Access.

Project overview

A powered-wheelchair navigation system that combines eye-gaze input with obstacle sensing and shared autonomy. I designed, integrated, and field-tested the navigation stack, connecting the user’s intended direction with assisted robot control. The system was evaluated in the home of a person living with ALS and documented in IEEE Access.

System Record

My role: CONTRIBDesigned CONTRIBBuilt CONTRIBField Testing CONTRIBCo-Authored
Domain: DOMAINPerception & Sensing
Application: APPAssistive Technology
Platforms: PLATFORMPowered Wheelchair
Methods: METHODEye-Gaze Tracking METHODShared Autonomy METHODSensor Fusion
Outcomes: OUTCOMEPeer-Reviewed Publication OUTCOMEDeployed Prototype
Period: 2013–2016

Development & Validation

Constraint: the interface had to work from a single voluntary channel — gaze — without requiring residual limb control.
Engineering decision: fuse gaze with onboard sensing and shared autonomy so unsafe commanded paths are filtered before the chair moves.
Field conditions: evaluated outside the lab in the home of a person with ALS, navigating previously unseen rooms and corridors.
Trade-off: higher assisted-control safety reduces raw teleoperation freedom; the stack prioritizes collision avoidance over direct gaze-to-velocity mapping.

Credits & Collaborators

Nikolaos Giakoumidis
NYU Abu Dhabi
Co-author
Mohamad Eid
NYU Abu Dhabi
Lead author · Principal Investigator
Abdulmotaleb El Saddik
University of Ottawa
Co-author
University of Ottawa
Research partner

Publications & media

Publication
2016
A novel eye-gaze-controlled wheelchair system for navigating unknown environments: case study with a person with ALS
Source · IEEE Access 4, 558–573
Video

Additional Media

INSTRUMENTED CHAIR — SENSOR & GAZE RIG — NYU Abu Dhabi · with University of Ottawa · 2013–2016
Instrumented powered wheelchair prototype with a custom sensor and gaze-tracking frame, in a lab corridor

Challenge, contribution, and outcome