eyeLike

An OpenCV based webcam gaze tracker based on a simple image gradient-based eye center algorithm by Fabian Timm, extended with eye health monitoring, guided eye exercises, and session logging.

Features

Eye Health Monitoring (automatic)

• Blink detection — rolling Y-position variance flags each blink; tracks blink rate (normal: 15–20/min) and average blink duration.
• Gaze-stability / nystagmus detection — rolling position variance over 30 frames flags high-frequency oscillations.
• Eye-openness asymmetry — compares left/right pupil Y-fraction within the eye ROI; flags ptosis-like differences.
• Plain-language advice — printed on demand with [h], e.g. "Blink rate below normal — consider lubricating eye drops."

Eye Exercise Module (press [e] to start)

#	Exercise	Description
1	Saccadic	Follow target dots that jump to 5 fixed positions (centre, left, right, up, down). Score = % frames on-target.
2	Smooth Pursuit	Track a dot moving in a figure-8 (Lissajous) pattern. Score = % frames on-target.
3	Focus Shifting	Alternate near/far focus on 10-second cues.
4	Palming Rest	20-second countdown; close eyes and cup palms over them.
5	20-20-20 Reminder	Triggered automatically every 20 minutes; 20-second look-away countdown.

State machine: IDLE → CALIBRATE (3 s) → EXERCISE (30 s) → REST (5 s) → RESULTS

Session Logging

• Timestamped CSV file created automatically (e.g. session_2026-05-01_22-32-42.csv).
• Per-frame rows: timestamp, left/right pupil X/Y, blink flag.
• Exercise results appended as comment rows.
• Full health report written on [q].

Screenshots

Main Interface - Eye Tracking

Real-time eye tracking with pupil detection, blink monitoring, and gaze stability metrics.

Eye Health Summary

On-screen health summary showing blink rate, pupil symmetry, gaze stability, and personalized advice.

Exercise Mode

Guided eye exercises with visual targets. Follow the green dots to complete the exercise.

Health Metrics Display

Live health metrics overlay showing eye measurements and real-time status indicators.

Look Mode

20-20-20 reminder mode - look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

Controls

Key	Action
e	Start the first exercise / advance to the next exercise
h	Print health summary to the console
q	Quit, save session CSV, print log path
c	Quit (no log save)
f	Save current frame as frame.png

DISCLAIMER

Eye tracking is approximate (no gaze calibration). Exercise scores reflect relative pupil movement within the detected face region. This tool is for wellness and vision-training purposes only and is not a medical device.

Building

CMake is required to build eyeLike.

OSX or Linux with Make

# do things in the build directory so that we don't clog up the main directory
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ../
make
./bin/eyeLike # the executable file

On OSX with XCode

mkdir build
./cmakeBuild.sh

then open the XCode project in the build folder and run from there.

On Windows

There is some way to use CMake on Windows but I am not familiar with it.

Blog Article:

• Using Fabian Timm's Algorithm

Paper:

Timm and Barth. Accurate eye centre localisation by means of gradients. In Proceedings of the Int. Conference on Computer Theory and Applications (VISAPP), volume 1, pages 125-130, Algarve, Portugal, 2011. INSTICC.

(also see youtube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aGmGyFLQAFM)