Airwave Healthcare is to market in the UK a system that will enable patients that, for instance, due to a stroke, other brain, or spinal injury, have significantly reduced motor function, to access and control television, radio, Internet, and nurse call functions, on an Airwave healthcare touchscreen, simply by looking at part of the screen.
The company has entered an agreement with Swedish eye tracking and ‘gaze interaction’ specialist, Tobii, which will see Tobii PCEye Go eye tracking hardware and software available with Airwave’s bedside touchscreens. The specifier can choose which functions – for instance access to TV and radio channels, the Internet, hospital information, and patient entertainment services – are integrated. Tobii explains that the ‘idea’ of eye tracking arose from a research project at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm; Tobii was founded in 2001, and has significantly developed and enhanced the technology since. It adds: “The Tobii PCEye Go is a peripheral eye tracker that enhances computer accessibility with the speed, power, and accuracy, of gaze interaction. The device replaces the standard mouse, allowing users to navigate and control a computer using only their eyes.” The PCEye Go runs on standard Windows computers and tablets; users can work with any application normally controlled by a standard computer mouse, or through touch. Patients could thus, for example, ‘surf the Web’, access and change television channels, obtain information on key hospital services, ‘Skype’ or even control the room lights, blinds, or ventilation. They can also use the technology to communicate with clinicians and nurses. Tobii added: “Users with limited motor skills can benefit greatly.” The Gaze Selection software gives control of the desktop or tablet device via an ‘intuitive’ two-step process that reduces the risk of unwanted clicks, while ‘zoom’ functionality gives ‘virtually pixelprecise control’ of where users point, click, and drag. The PCEyeGo hardware device is lightweight, and small enough to be easily transported and used with different computers. All processing is undertaken on the device itself, which ‘fits snugly’ on a desktop or laptop computer screen or, with an optional bracket, can be used with a standard, ‘off-the-shelf’ tablet. Hector Minto, sales and business development manager, UK/Eire at Tobii, added: “The partnership with Airwave is extremely exciting for Tobii in the UK. The first hospitals who will install the system actually came to us with the requirement for eye control in their bedside consoles. Spinal and rehab wards are likely to be early adopters. However, it is very likely that the ‘facility’ for eye control will become commonplace for many more patients than just those with a severe physical disability.”
