Students are researching sensor applications for children with cerebral palsy who have spasticity. The group is looking at the application of eye tracking in an educational environment.
Pupils at the Mytylschool in Amsterdam, who suffer with severe physical disabilities, have access to a stand-alone computer. This enables the children to follow a limited educational programme through the utilisation of video analysis technology, whereby eye movements are converted into mouse control. In short: the eye controls the computer. The existing system is designed for children with limited cognitive development and cannot be further extended. It is situated in a separate location, away from the pupils’ regular classroom.
The CENSI research examines whether a reliable and affordable system can be constructed from existing components. The new system must be more flexible and compliant with the needs of the school and the individual pupils. It should allow an educational programme of choice to be installed on selected computers and in a variety of locations.
The aim is to improve the surroundings and services offered to people with disabilities. This will enable physically disabled children to follow a programme designed to meet their specific educational levels.
Furthermore, the pupils can remain in the regular classroom environment and learn alongside other children. The challenge is to develop applications that are affordable and accessible to large groups of people with disabilities.
Four students from the Hanze UAS are currently participating in this research. However, each student comes from a different programme and study background: International Business & Languages, Management, Economics & Law, Technical Information Sciences and Computer Science. This means there is a variety of knowledge and expertise within the group. In addition, during the exploratory phase, collaboration took place with the School of Engineering.