EyeTell: Tablet-based Calibration-free Eye-typing using Smooth-pursuit movements

Abstract

Gaze tracking technology, with the increasingly robust and lightweight equipment, can have tremendous applications. To use the technology during short interactions, such as in public displays or hospitals to communicate non-verbally after a surgery, the application needs to be intuitive without requiring a calibration. Gaze gestures such as smooth-pursuit eye movements can be detected without calibration. We report the working performance of a calibration-free eye-typing application using only the front-facing camera of a tablet. In a user study with 29 participants, we obtained an average typing speed of 1.27 WPM after four trials and a maximum typing speed of 1.95 WPM.