Eye-Tracking-Driven Shared Control for Robotic Arms: Wizard of Oz Studies to Assess Design Choices

Eye-tracking-driven controls for assistive robotic arms provide people with severe physical disabilities with intuitive interaction opportunities.In this context, shared control can improve acceptance of the robot by partially automating task execution. Based on recent literature, we present a Wizard of Oz design for shared control driven by eye-tracking. This approach allows for the rapid exploration of user expectations to inform future design iterations. Two studies were conducted to assess user experience, identify design challenges, and determine ways to improve usability and accessibility. The first study involved people with severe motor disabilities (PSMD) and consisted of an online survey. The second study aimed to gain technical insights through direct robot interaction to provide a comprehensive overview of the findings.