Home automation systems control by head tracking in AAL applications

Ambient Assisted Living solutions aim at improving people´s Quality of Life. They are typically targeted to specific categories of users, such as older people, or people with limited disabilities, to prolong their independent living at home, in a friendly, safe, and well known environment. This paper presents a software application based on computer vision techniques, to enable the control of an assistive home automation system, by tracking the movements of the subject´s head. The application is designed to accomplish the computational constraints posed by the target devices on which it is expected to run. Experimental tests provide positive outcomes in terms of correct movements detection, and reliable activation of commands issued to the home automation system.