Development and Testing of Motion-Detection Techniques for People with Cerebral Palsy

This paper describes several computer access methods tested by Eva, a woman with choreoathetosic cerebral palsy. This disease prevents her from controlling the peripherals and configurations that normally give access to information and communication technologies, further limiting her independence. To make Eva access a computer, we focused our efforts on the methodologies that Eva could control by just moving her neck and head. These sensors were: Kinect, inertial measurement units (IMU), and video. Kinect, composed of a system of cameras and sensors, gives the option to interact and control the devices contactlessly. The IMU is a device consisting of an accelerometer and a gyroscope that measure velocity, orientation, and gravitational forces. For live image processing, a common webcam was used. During the development of the experiment, Eva must follow a sequence shown on the computer screen that alternates movement of the head with rest. These movements involved moving the head up, down, right, or left. Our results showed that the Kinect system could not be used effectively, while the image-processing algorithm obtained the best performance.