How To Make An Eye Tracker For Under Fifty Bucks

Attention all you eye tracking do-it-yourselfers out there.  A paper published just the other day by a researcher in Poland reveals, in detail, just how to go about building a low cost, head-mounted eye tracking system.  We’ve written a lot about the cost-prohibitive nature of eye tracking, and the paper essentially shows a short, step-by-step tutorial on how to create your own system.  The glasses are designed to work with algorithms within the infrared range and were tested with an open source system, the ITU Gaze Tracker.  You can get all the parts off-the-shelf and set out to create your own innovation for testing.
The author, Michal Kowalik used parts available on the market and totaling, with construction, around 30 Euros, or just under $50.  All you need is a webcam, safety glasses, an IR LED, a carbon resister 1/4W 22R, negative film, aluminum wire, mounting strips and heat shrinkable tubing.

As the ITU Gaze Tracker software uses algorithms based off an infrared image, you must first modify the camera and mount a filter that allows the capturing of images in infrared light.  In order to do this, you need to disassemble the outer casing and remove the filter, and then add an infrared filter, which can be created from the negative film.  Kowalik says that while this solution may not seem very professional, it works.  Using color film, cut a square about the size of the disassembled filter and then place it in the recess of the lens.  If it fits correctly, no glue is needed, and the capture module is ready.  See the paper for details and photo illustrations on disassembly of the camera.

After placing a cable to connect the module to the computer, you are ready to mount the hardware.  Using modified safety glasses, make the proper modifications according to instruction before attaching the aluminum wire.  The capture module will eventually be placed and attached to the end of the wire.  The arm is fixed to the frames of the glasses with mounting straps and adjusted (bent) to meet the eye’s gaze.
Next you’ll need to mount the three IR LEDs to the capture module and connect to a computer via USB.  If this is done according to instruction, there’s no need for additional wiring and power.

Kowalik says his glasses worked well with the ITU Gaze Tracker software in real time, and I imagine it wouldn’t take much to change the platform and adapt the module to a different system.

Take a look at the instructions on the site and please let us know of your creations! Happy building!

How to build low cost eye tracking glasses for head mounted system

UPDATE:

Hi,

I just came across this article published a couple of months ago (https://eyetrackingupdate.com/2010/09/23/eye-tracker-fifty-bucks/) where you claim that a polish researcher has developed a low-cost eye tracking system. In fact, the system Michal (the polish researcher) uses is the ITU Gaze Tracker, an open-source eye tracking software developed at the IT University of Copenhagen. What he did was attaching a camera in a pair of safety glasses, but the software is not his.

The aim of ITU gaze tracker is to provide a gaze tracker that works with a wide range of cameras (from webcams to industrial cameras), while keeping an open-source and open-hardware spirit so everyone can benefit. We are now currently focusing our efforts in version 2.0, which offers both head-mounted and remote eye tracking (monocular and binocular), using a camera and one to four IR light sources.

Our homepage is www.gazegroup.org You can read more about the development of the software in our recently started blog here -> http://develop.gazegroup.org. We also have some forums where people can ask questions and report bugs here -> http://forum.gazegroup.org. Finally, the software and code can be downloaded from SourceForge here -> https://sourceforge.net/projects/gazetrackinglib/

If you are interested in getting more information please do not hesitate to contact me or write in our forum.

Thanks,

Javier