Drishtikon: An Open-Source Eye–Heart Platform for Low-Cost Research

Abstract

The Medical and biomedical education sectors of a third world country such as Bangladesh actively lacks the financial and technical prowess to afford animatronics which emulate human anatomy. However, they are relatively complex as well as unaffordable for the common folk of places such as Bangladesh. This disadvantage creates a concerning gap in practical knowledge and training which affects the student’s creativity and comprehension ability. To overcome this disadvantage, we came up with Drishtikon, a simple and low-cost framework that uses a 3D Printed Robotic Eye as well as a Mechanical Heart which is easy to replicate and has the potential to effectively solve the lack of affordable simulation system for Research essential for students of Medical and Biomedical fields. Drishtikon’s ocular system mainly has two modes one being autonomous and the other an eye tracking system. The eye is also connected to a 3D mechanical heart which can adjust its rhythm to mimic the heart rate for various medical conditions and states thus creating the perfect platform for visualizing human physiology. The paper goes in depth about the system design, explains the relevant eye-tracking and cardiac literature in brief, makes direct comparison between our animatronic organs and real anatomical ones and lays down the groundwork for the planned evaluation methods. Our pursuit prioritizes availability and affordability which will empower students in Bangladesh to further build upon our initiative, which will boost practical anatomical knowledge and inspire visualization of biologically accurate simulation mechanisms.