My Projects | Ozan Ulaş Sıvacı

myDigitalEye

In 2020-21, while I was in the 10th grade, I developed a program, named dijitalgözüm (myDigitalEye), using OpenCV and Python to help physically disabled individuals operate a computer via just using webcam.

Project Purpose and Inspiration

The inspiration for this project came after I watched The Theory of Everything on television, which portrayed the life of Stephen Hawking. In the film, I saw how Hawking managed to communicate through a specialized computer system despite his severe physical limitations.

Stephen Hawking

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However, I realized that many people in similar situations could not access such systems. Existing assistive devices were expensive and difficult to obtain.

Solution Design

Motivated by this challenge, I created software that allowed computer control by using webcams that are already built into almost every computer, eliminating the need for direct mouse or keyboard interaction. The program detected eye, eyebrow, and head movements to control the computer. Depending on the user’s level of disability, they could operate the computer using only eye movements or a combination of eye and slight head movements.

Working Principle

For example:

Looking left with the eyes moved the mouse pointer left.
Slightly turning the head moved the pointer in the same direction.
A left-eye blink triggered a left click, while a right-eye blink triggered a right click.

Normal blinks and natural head movements were filtered to prevent accidental inputs. I also integrated shortcuts and an on-screen keyboard to improve usability. Users could adjust mouse speed and sensitivity to their preferences.