Algorithms Read Your Intentions by Tracking Your Eyes (Eye-Controlled
  Machines)
From: Scientific American - 12/2015 - page 32
By: Rachel Nuwer

Software that translates eye movement into commands to control devices could
be a boon for motion-impaired people

Earlier this year when Erik Sorto, a quadriplegic man, used his thoughts to
direct a robot arm to bring a beer to his lips, the media went wild. It was
an impressive feat. The catch is that the technology behind it—an
electrode-laden chip implanted in Sorto's brain—is expensive and invasive and
often requires months of training. Worse, few paralyzed people have the
psychological and physical profile the technology requires.

Aldo Faisal, an associate professor of neurotechnology at Imperial College
London, wants to use eye movements to control wheelchairs, computers, and
video games. With off-the-shelf video-game cameras, Faisal and his colleagues
built goggles that record the user’s eye movements and feed those data to a
computer. Software then translates.the data into machine commands. Almost
anyone can use the technology, including amputees, quadriplegics and those
suffering from Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis or muscular dystrophy.
The system costs less than $50 to build. At a science exhibition, the vast
majority of thousands of volunteers grasped the technology well enough after
15 seconds to play the game Pong, no instructions needed.

Abstract from:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/algorithms-read-your-intentions-by-tracking-your-eyes

Links:
Neurons Encoding Hand Shapes Identified in Human Brain
http://www.caltech.edu/news/neurons-encoding-hand-shapes-identified-human-brain-48808

Controlling a Robotic Arm with a Patient's Intentions http://www.caltech.edu/news/controlling-robotic-arm-patients-intentions-46786

Breaking into Your Brain (video 10:36)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZteM65b76Y