Eye Movement-Based Robot Control System Using Raspberry Pi and USB Camera

This project presents a novel method for controlling a robot using real-time eye movements captured by a USB web camera connected to a Raspberry Pi. The system interprets specific eye movements to dictate the direction of movement for a robot platform equipped with DC motors: looking up moves the robot forward, looking down moves it backward, looking right moves it right, looking left moves it left, and when the eyes are centered, the robot stops. The USB camera continuously captures video of the user’s eyes, which is processed on the Raspberry Pi using image processing algorithms to detect and analyze eye positions within the frames. Commands corresponding to the detected eye movements are then sent to the robot platform’s DC motors via the Raspberry Pi’s GPIO pins, ensuring responsive and accurate movement based on the user’s eye gestures. This innovative system combines computer vision techniques for eye tracking with robotics, offering a hands-free and intuitive method for controlling robots, with potential applications in assistive robotics, human-machine interaction research, and accessible interfaces for users with mobility challenges.

Keywords: robot control, eye movement, USB web camera, Raspberry Pi, computer vision, DC motors, real-time processing, robotics platform, assistive robotics, human-machine interaction