CACTUS contributes to ongoing research as well as practice in the field of assistive technology.
CACTUS is an assistive technology developed for individuals with severe motor limitations, such as those caused by ALS or spinal injuries. The project is guided by the belief that everyone should be able to access the web, to connect, work and play.
Discover all the features built into CACTUS.
A Quadtree data structure that organises interactive page elements by location for efficient searching and processing.
In case of navigation menus, the entire landmark region’s contents are re-rendered hierarchically in the side panel.
A virtual cursor that represents a smoothened version of the gaze path taken by the user.
Seamless integration with adaptive switches, allowing users to map multiple switches to different browser functionalities.
A multilingual and numeric on-screen keyboard with text autocomplete which formats directly within the browser interface.
A side panel that encompasses a variety of contexts, including drop-downs, video components, and hierarchical menus.
A function that allows the user to dwell on a specific on-page item, directly resulting in an emulated click.
Supports various input types, including buttons, links, radio buttons, checkboxes, dates, comboboxes, videos, audio, text, textareas, numbers and so on.
A settings page that offers extensive customisation options to tailor the user experience according to individual preferences.
Explore our research paper introducing two interaction patterns, Quadtree-based Target Selection with secondary confirmation and Hierarchical Re-rendering of navigation menus, for the gaze-native browser CACTUS to improve performance, usability, and reduce workload in eye-tracking web navigation.
D. Vella and C. Porter, "Remapping the Document Object Model using Geometric and Hierarchical Data Structures for Efficient Eye Control," Acm Pacmhci, vol. 8, (ETRA), pp. 1–16, 2024. Available: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3655608. DOI: 10.1145/3655608.
D. Vella and C. Porter, "Remapping the Document Object Model using Geometric and Hierarchical Data Structures for Efficient Eye Control," Acm Pacmhci, vol. 8, (ETRA), pp. 1–16, 2024. Available: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3655608. DOI: 10.1145/3655608.
Tap to Copy CitationExplore our second paper which was presented at CHItaly 2025 Interactive Experience Session.
M. Buhagiar, D. Calleja, and C. Porter, “Experiencing Cactus - Browsing The Web Using Your Eyes,” pp. 1–2, Oct. 2025, Available: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3750069.3757722. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3750069.3757722.
M. Buhagiar, D. Calleja, and C. Porter, “Experiencing Cactus - Browsing The Web Using Your Eyes,” pp. 1–2, Oct. 2025, Available: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3750069.3757722. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3750069.3757722.
Tap to Copy CitationExplore our published article in The Sunday Times of Malta.
Reach out for any general inquiries, feedback, or possible collaboration opportunities on the email below.
cactus@um.edu.mt
