Wearable Eye Tracking Device for Erythrocyte Movement within Blood Vessels of the Human Eye
Team Members Heading link
- Faviola Carrillo
- Kaylin Dean
- Mariya Fedoryshyn
- Ahmed Hassan
- Jeannel Mandujano
- Jorge Sanchez
Project Description Heading link
Cardiovascular diseases are the number one leading causes of death globally. Therefore, early detection and proper diagnosis of these diseases is critical. The diagnosis is done clinically, which includes studying blood flow movement in the human eye by use of video imaging. However, some of the key challenges with this approach is that the video images are not focused or stable due the micro movement of the eye, known as micro saccades. Subsequently, the aim of this project is to develop a wearable device that integrates videography to obtain stable and well-focused images of erythrocyte movement within blood vessels of the human eye. The device consists of 3-D printed frames made of ABS plastic with computational power deriving from a Raspberry Pi Zero W, a low-cost single-board computer, that offers wireless LAN and Bluetooth capabilities. It is attached to a Raspberry camera v2, which can be upgraded to a Raspberry HQ camera. The Pi Zero W is installed with the software Raspbian, which is a free operating system optimal for any Raspberry Pi hardware. Within this software, an open-source library known as PyGaze is used for eye tracking. PyGaze includes classes that consists of properties and methods specific to solving problems related to eye movement via webcam. “Eye Tracker” is one of these classes that initiates calibration, retrieves gaze position, and tracks pupil movement. The results obtained include videos of the outer surface of the eye and the Eye Tracker successfully tracking the pupil. Further work to reach the vessels will be carried out by the next senior design team. This will aid in the process of diagnosis and become a solution for healthcare providers so that it can be distributed to patients to reduce hospital visits, optimize hospital resources, and deliver quality care that is safe and effective.