WebGazer Type

Inspiration

We were inspired by similar features implemented in more complete software suites. In fact, Windows 11 just recently added a gaze keyboard! However, our implementation is unique - it works with absolutely zero specialty hardware required.

What it does

After calibration, simply look at the UI elements to type.

How we built it

We settled on using a javascript gaze tracker, as it had the least noisy performance. We built the UI with an HTML canvas.

Challenges we ran into

It took a lot of experimentation and exploration to find a gaze tracker algorithm we were happy with (we tried a lot!) and a UI we found usable (we implemented two in the time limit, and we have ideas for even more)

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud to have created a usable product from such an incredibly noisy input data source. That was the true challenge of our niche -- creating something that could work not just for an ideal setup, but something that could work for even the typical 720p laptop webcam.

What we learned

This project was a great exercise in rapid iteration and in casting a broad net. The process was extremely nonlinear - rather than implementing many features, we spent a lot of time re-implementing the key concept to get it right.

What's next for WebGazer Type

If we develop WebGazer Type further, we'd continue to explore gaze tracking algorithms -- there are a lot of great ideas floating around in academia which haven't quite made their way to easy-to-use libraries yet. We'd also experiment with the UI to strike the right balance between speed and ease of use.

Presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_jUV9K2-2iWDYD-Pv06uXzJ6b-rSV5yh0T08WZXm5LE/edit?usp=sharing