ALS Assistance Blink Detector

This project is designed to assist people with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) who have limited mobility and cannot use conventional methods to request assistance. The program uses a camera feed to detect and count the user's eye blinks, and when it detects 5 blinks within 5 seconds, it triggers an alarm to alert caregivers around or family members on telegram that the person needs help.

How it works

The program utilizes computer vision techniques and facial landmark detection to monitor the user's eyes in real-time. When the user blinks 5 times within a 5-second interval, an alarm is activated to call for assistance. To turn off the alarm, the user needs to blink 5 times again within 5 seconds.

The algorithm calculates the Eye Aspect Ratio (EAR) to determine whether the eyes are open or closed. It uses the dlib library for face detection and facial landmark prediction, and OpenCV for video processing.

Features

• Real-time eye blink detection.
• Alarm system which is triggered based on the frequency of blinks.
• Support for both live video feed and pre-recorded video.
• Alarm system can be toggled on or off by the user.
• Integrates with Telegram for remote monitoring.

Dependencies

• Python 3
• OpenCV
• dlib
• imutils
• requests
• scipy

Environment Variables

• TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID: Your Telegram Chat ID.
• TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN: Your Telegram Bot Token.

Dlib Installation Guide for Windows

1. Install CMake: Download it from the official website. During installation, make sure to add CMake to the system PATH.

2. Install Build Tools for Visual Studio: You can download it from the official website. During installation, select "C++ build tools" to install the necessary C++ tools.

3. Install Python: If you haven't already, you will need to install Python from the official website. Remember to check the box that adds Python to your PATH.

4. Install numpy: Open a Command Prompt and run:

   pip install numpy

5. Install dlib:

   pip install dlib

   This will take a while as pip compiles dlib.

If you encounter any issues, make sure that CMake and your C++ compiler are correctly installed and available in your PATH. You can verify this by running cmake --version and cl in a command prompt. You should see the CMake version and the Microsoft C/C++ Compiler version respectively.

Usage

1. Clone this repository.
2. Install the dependencies.
3. Set your environment variables.
4. Run the program: python blink_detector.py --video camera --threshold 0.27 --frames 5

Arguments

• -v or --video: Path to input video file or "camera" for live video feed.
• -t or --threshold: Threshold to determine closed eyes. Default is 0.27.
• -f or --frames: The number of consecutive frames the eye must be below the threshold. Default is 5.

Control

• Press q to quit the program.
• Press s to toggle the program enable.

Alarm

The alarm is triggered when the user blinks more than 5 times in 5 seconds. To turn off the alarm, the user must blink 5 times in 5 seconds again. The alarm is played using the default system sound.

Telegram

If TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID and TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN are set, the program will send photos and alerts to the specified Telegram chat when the alarm is triggered, stopped, or when the program is quit. The photos will show the state of the user's eyes at the time of the alert.

Logging

Logs are saved to blink_detector.log and are also output to the console. The log level is set to DEBUG. The log file is rotated when it reaches 10mb, and the two most recent log files are kept.

Disclaimer

This program is provided as is, without any guarantees or warranty. The author is not responsible for any malfunction or damage or any other undesired effects that may occur as a result of using this program. No support will be provided. Use of the program is at the user's own risk. Please ensure that the program is suitable for your requirements before use.