Controlling Bed with Eyegaze Control

My latest adaptation to solve the problem of operating my bed is now working. My bed has powered adjustment for elevating head, knees or the entire bed. Although I only need to raise the back support currently for more comfortable TV viewing, eventually I will need it to make breathing easier. Until now I have relied on the standard handset controls hung on the bedrail which I operate with my nose. But recently I have begun to struggle with this method so lowering the backrest after finishing watching TV is now very difficult and on a couple of occasions has nearly been impossible. But more significantly, if I wake feeling short of breath I can't raise myself up.

The only solution was eyegaze control and the first option was to use the infrared remote control on my computer. This would require the bed to be fitted with an infrared receiver either from the manufacturer or one made by myself and Chris. When I enquired with the supplier, I was told it was available but never been supplied in the UK before and was £200. However I knew that this was going to be the easiest option, so it was ordered. Unfortunately the first unit was faulty but a week later the replacement arrived, so it was on to the tricky bit of programming the eyegaze. I say tricky only because of the logistics involved. As great as my eyegaze software is, a significant weakness is the inability to use eyegaze control to modify it so frustratingly I need to rely on the software company to make changes remotely, now I can no longer use a mouse! But this time I also required someone here to push the bed's remote control buttons at the right moments so my software could learn the infrared codes. It was relatively straight forward in the end and after a couple of sessions we had it sorted.

The video shows the setup working. Each button press triggers only a small movement. At the start of the video watch the backrest move each time I 'click' the screen button by looking at it.  Its not ideal but it's better than too big a movement which could potentially move me out of eyegaze range and stranded.