April 30, 2004 - Today's Other News Items

'EyeDraw' Breaks the Scribble Barrier

The "scribble barrier" has been smashed. For the first time, children with severe motor impairments who communicate using eye movements will be able to create drawings that get posted on proud parents' refrigerators and sent to grandma.

EyeDraw, a software system for eye trackers that will enable children to draw recognizable pictures with their eyes, will be unveiled by University of Oregon researchers in Vienna on Wednesday, April 28, at CHI2004, the world's largest gathering of scientists working on the computer-human interface.

The project, inspired by research showing the benefits of spontaneous, open-ended drawing for early childhood development, is a marriage of technology and art.

"Our goal is to help children with severe motor impairments enjoy the benefits of drawing pictures," says Anthony Hornof, a UO assistant professor of Computer and Information Science. "We believe this is the first software program that allows people to create representational artworks by directly controlling the cursor with their eyes."

Previous techniques for drawing with the eyes used free-eye drawing, an approach with limited benefit because users haven't been able to move beyond what Hornof describes as the "scribble stage" to draw recognizable objects and scenes such as houses, people, cars and trees.

Hornof specializes in building computer simulations of human visual perception, cognitive processing and ocular motor processing. His understanding of how people function at these minute levels of detail helped him to attack the problem of creating a successful eye drawing system.

"The difficulties in free-eye drawing can be explained in part based on the characteristics of human visual perception and eye movement," he explains. "Free-eye drawing jams together two task activities that usually are independent when drawing a picture: viewing the drawing and drawing the lines."

The challenge of creating a system that successfully allows users to create recognizable images using only their eyes is further compounded by the simple fact that people do not have the same control over their eyes as for their hands or other limbs, Hornof explains.

Hornof's team had to solve a number of problems inherent in the eye-control of computers.

"Until now, systems have largely been limited to the eyes clicking on buttons," he explains. "Making numerous decisions about what you want to do in an open space is what's new and exciting. You decide where the cursor is going to go and what it's going to do without clicking on eye-controlled buttons."

Children and adults with severe motor impairment resulting from conditions such as cerebral palsy and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis now are testing EyeDraw at three sites in the United States. The team of developers includes Hornof and two undergraduate research assistants, Anna Cavender and Rob Hoselton. Their work is supported by a Research Experiences for Undergraduates grant from the National Science Foundation.

Cavender was named the 2004 Outstanding Female Undergraduate by the Computing Research Association in part because of her contributions to developing EyeDraw. She will graduate with a bachelorÁZs degree in computer and information science this June and begin work on her doctorate at the University of Washington in the fall.

Hoselton, a graduate of Churchill High School in Eugene, earned his bachelor's degree in computer and information science winter term. He now works as a computer programmer in the Early Intervention Program at the UO College of Education, developing online materials for assessing the developmental progress of at-risk children.

Hornof joined the UO faculty in 1999. His Cognitive Modeling and Eye Tracking Lab uses eye tracking equipment manufactured by LC Technologies in applied research, with the ultimate goal of making computers easier for people to use. Among other projects currently underway is a system for performing music using only eye movements. The National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research fund Hornof's research.