Final Activity Report Summary - PRE-WORK (Vision-based prevention of work-related disorders in computer users)
The main goal of our project was to design and implement a software tool for video-based monitoring of computer users behaviour. The software analysed users activity level and provided appropriate health-risk warnings, suggestions and exercises at the moment when they were actually needed. Only standard computer equipment should be used to ensure the software could be easily used by office workers and the general public.
The proposed project integrated areas of computer vision, occupational medicine and interactive user interfaces. We firstly researched common workplace disorders and means to prevent them. We then decided to focus on eye activity and the importance of blinking so as to assess the general fatigue level of a person. New methods for the detection of eye blinks and the analysis of their properties were developed. Finally, a new measure for eye fatigue level was introduced. It compared current blink activity with prepared models of fatigued and non-fatigued behaviour. By observing the eye fatigue level, the monitoring software could quickly detect dangerous fatigue levels and start the appropriate preventive actions.
The main project outcome was the BLITRA monitoring software which observed the computer user through a monitor-mounted webcam, analysed his eye blinking behaviour and tried to detect the onset of eye fatigue. In case fatigued behaviour was detected the user was alerted and provided with an option to start a set of simple interactive exercises that would help to relax his eye muscles. Software controlled exercises ensured that user activity was varied in intensity, speed and movement patterns, all without the need for special attention by the user.
In the long run, such software was expected to encourage the use of relaxational exercises at the workplace and help the user learn how to perform preventive activities regularly. This could finally lead to safer computer work and lower rates of illness and health-related absence from work, within the European Union as well as worldwide.