Natural user interface is a fairly new concept in the field of human-computer interaction. It is the idea of using every day natural human behaviors and actions to control a device. An example of a natural user interface is touch control technology in smartphones, tablets, and new laptops. The interaction is more direct when compared to artificial input devices like a keyboard and mouse. Though natural user interface devices might not perform as well as standard input devices for certain applications, for other applications they are now the de facto standard. A new user interface that is poised to be the next natural user interface in human-computer interaction is eye-control, or the ability to control an interface with just the user’s eyes using technology that has been around for a long time called eye trackers. The problem for much of the existence of eye trackers is the cost. Most modern commercial eye trackers cost anywhere between $10,000 and $40,000, and that is too expensive for regular consumers to buy and use. In this paper, we build a low cost system for eye-control using an open source program called ITU Gaze Tracker. In the process, we developed an interface which allows a user to pilot a Parrot AR.Drone quadrocopter using just their gaze. In this explorative study, we explore the performance of this eye-control system to keyboard control in the operation of an AR.Drone around an obstacle course. We collected certain performance metrics like lap completion time,
","abstract_html":"<p>Natural user interface is a fairly new concept in the field of human-computer interaction. It is the idea of using every day natural human behaviors and actions to control a device. An example of a natural user interface is touch control technology in smartphones, tablets, and new laptops. The interaction is more direct when compared to artificial input devices like a keyboard and mouse. Though natural user interface devices might not perform as well as standard input devices for certain applications, for other applications they are now the de facto standard. A new user interface that is poised to be the next natural user interface in human-computer interaction is eye-control, or the ability to control an interface with just the user’s eyes using technology that has been around for a long time called eye trackers. The problem for much of the existence of eye trackers is the cost. Most modern commercial eye trackers cost anywhere between $10,000 and $40,000, and that is too expensive for regular consumers to buy and use. In this paper, we build a low cost system for eye-control using an open source program called ITU Gaze Tracker. In the process, we developed an interface which allows a user to pilot a Parrot AR.Drone quadrocopter using just their gaze. In this explorative study, we explore the performance of this eye-control system to keyboard control in the operation of an AR.Drone around an obstacle course. We collected certain performance metrics like lap completion time,</p>","abstract_has_math":true,"creators":["Ettikkalayil, John M"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (M.S.)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Biomedical Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Lucas C. Parra"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2013-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:57:14Z","subjects":["eye control","eye tracking","performance","quadrocopter","Natural User Interface (NUI)","Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/645","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Lucas C. Parra"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Ettikkalayil, John M"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2016-10-14T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Biomedical Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (M.S.)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["eye control","eye tracking","performance","quadrocopter","Natural User Interface (NUI)","Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/645"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Natural user interface is a fairly new concept in the field of human-computer interaction. It is the idea of using every day natural human behaviors and actions to control a device. An example of a natural user interface is touch control technology in smartphones, tablets, and new laptops. The interaction is more direct when compared to artificial input devices like a keyboard and mouse. Though natural user interface devices might not perform as well as standard input devices for certain applications, for other applications they are now the de facto standard. A new user interface that is poised to be the next natural user interface in human-computer interaction is eye-control, or the ability to control an interface with just the user’s eyes using technology that has been around for a long time called eye trackers. The problem for much of the existence of eye trackers is the cost. Most modern commercial eye trackers cost anywhere between $10,000 and $40,000, and that is too expensive for regular consumers to buy and use. In this paper, we build a low cost system for eye-control using an open source program called ITU Gaze Tracker. In the process, we developed an interface which allows a user to pilot a Parrot AR.Drone quadrocopter using just their gaze. In this explorative study, we explore the performance of this eye-control system to keyboard control in the operation of an AR.Drone around an obstacle course. We collected certain performance metrics like lap completion time,
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Design, Implementation, and Performance Study of an Open Source Eye-Control System to Pilot a Parrot AR.Drone Quadrocopter"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Lucas C. Parra"],"dc:creator":["Ettikkalayil, John M"],"dc:date.available":["2016-10-14T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Natural user interface is a fairly new concept in the field of human-computer interaction. It is the idea of using every day natural human behaviors and actions to control a device. An example of a natural user interface is touch control technology in smartphones, tablets, and new laptops. The interaction is more direct when compared to artificial input devices like a keyboard and mouse. Though natural user interface devices might not perform as well as standard input devices for certain applications, for other applications they are now the de facto standard. A new user interface that is poised to be the next natural user interface in human-computer interaction is eye-control, or the ability to control an interface with just the user’s eyes using technology that has been around for a long time called eye trackers. The problem for much of the existence of eye trackers is the cost. Most modern commercial eye trackers cost anywhere between $10,000 and $40,000, and that is too expensive for regular consumers to buy and use. In this paper, we build a low cost system for eye-control using an open source program called ITU Gaze Tracker. In the process, we developed an interface which allows a user to pilot a Parrot AR.Drone quadrocopter using just their gaze. In this explorative study, we explore the performance of this eye-control system to keyboard control in the operation of an AR.Drone around an obstacle course. We collected certain performance metrics like lap completion time,
"],"dc:identifier":["https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/645"],"dc:subject":["eye control","eye tracking","performance","quadrocopter","Natural User Interface (NUI)","Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering"],"dc:title":["Design, Implementation, and Performance Study of an Open Source Eye-Control System to Pilot a Parrot AR.Drone Quadrocopter"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Biomedical Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (M.S.)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:57:14Z"}