Alea Intelligaze Eyegaze unit

The Alea intelligaze IG30 is an unit that "bolts-on" to most modern USB enabled computer systems, giving the option of eyegaze control. The unit contains a camera and illumination and can be attached to most TFT screens or tablet-based PCs or communication aids using the provided VESA-mount adapter.

It does require its own separate power source, which can be tricky if you are having to power the monitor and computer already. One of the advantages of using the Alea with the Powerbox communication aid is that an extra power adaptor is not required – the Alea gets its charge from the Powerbox's additional battery unit. In this way it becomes a portable eyegaze system.

The Alea does come with its own software – notably the Application Centre, which allows an eyegaze user to select items more easily than using the mouse-controlled mode in Windows, and it also includes facilities to calibrate, re-calibrate and configure the eyegaze options.

Calibration

Calibration of the Alea can be done with between 1 to 16 points. You can also adjust the target accuracy to make it easier for a user who's struggling to get a successful calibration. Other options allow you randomise the calibration points, provide audio feedback to these calibration points and a slow (or step-through) mode. You can also set a image as a calibration point. It will allow one (left or right) or two eye calibration – useful for those with a strabismus (squint) or other visual difficulty.

Track status

The track status window can be brought up at any stage using a keyboard shortcut while the Alea intelligaze software is running. It can either show a black and white image of the users face or a graphical representation (shown below) – coloured as green (good), yellow or red (failing to see the eyes).

Mouse-control mode

When in mouse control mode the user can bring up a toolbar (shown below) by looking at offscreen to the left. Looking right brings up a settings and application launcher link. Mouse control options include single-left click, single-right click, double left click, drag & drop, off, and zoom.

Application launching

This is possible either using the Grid 2 or Alea’s own Application Centre software (shown below). When using the latter you are able to select how the user interacts with the software – either using Dwell, Blink or other selection method. You can adjust the the dwell time, the debounce time, display of mouse control options, and whether the software makes use of Alea’s integrated software.

Other software

The Alea team have been working on modifications to standard software to make the eyegaze system work better than just mouse controlled mode. This includes Clicker 5, but full list of software was not available at the time of writing.

Eyegaze-specific specifications

Eyegaze method used

Hybrid method used.

Cabling

1 USB cable, 1 power adaptor

Working range

50-70cm

Recovery time after tracking loss (head was too fast or moved out of range)

40 ms (0.4 seconds)

Sampling rate (the number of times per second the unit checks for the position of the head)

50hz

Accuracy

0.5 to 1 degreee

Working volume (the 'box' where the head has to be for the unit to work)

30 x 20 x20 cm3 (WxHxD)

RAM required

More than 512 MB (more than 1GB on Windows VISTA)

Operating system required

Windows XP SP2+, Vista, Windows 7

Processor required

P4 class, greater than 1.4GHz, dual-core and AMD systems supported