InterAACtion Web

Web reinterpretation of AFSR/InterAACtionBox.

The original InterAACtionBox is an integrated Ubuntu-based device for Alternative and Augmented Communication (AAC). This repository carries the same mission to the web: running the same set of AAC apps (AugCom, InterAACtionPlayer, InterAACtionScene, GazePlay) in a browser, with a webcam-based gaze calibration flow replacing the desktop Tobii-only InterAACtionGaze tool, and without requiring a dedicated OS install or an eye-tracker for basic use.

Target deployment: https://interaactionweb.afsr.fr.

Why

• Most of the apps bundled in the original box are already browser apps served locally on the device. Making them reachable via a PWA removes the ISO build cost entirely.
• Eye-tracking quality was the only hardware-bound feature. A companion app is planned for users with Tobii hardware (see companion/), with webcam-based tracking via WebGazer.js as a fallback.
• Ubuntu 20.04 goes out of extended support in April 2026. Moving the user experience to the web frees the project from that constraint.

Status

Early bootstrap. The repository history is preserved from AFSR/InterAACtionBox via a mirror clone; ISO-specific files are being removed incrementally.

Browser support

• Chrome / Edge / Firefox (desktop and Android) — full support, including webcam-based gaze tracking via WebGazer + MediaPipe.
• Safari (macOS) — UI fully functional. Gaze tracking is experimental: WebGazer's TFJS+MediaPipe pipeline works on Safari ≥ 16.4 but is slower than Chromium-based browsers and may degrade silently. The portal warns users.
• Safari iOS (iPhone, iPad) — UI fully functional, installable as a PWA (apple-touch-icon, status bar style, safe-area insets). Touch piloting works natively. Webcam-based gaze tracking is opt-in only (the bridge does not auto-start it on iOS to spare battery): tap the "👁 Regard OFF (exp.)" pill in the app bar to try it. There is no native iOS gaze API exposed to the web — ARKit / Face ID are not callable from Safari, so the only path is the same WebGazer pipeline used elsewhere, with the precision constraints of an iPhone front camera held at typing distance.

Layout (target)

portal/       Static landing page, PWA shell, /calibration/ flow
apps/         Per-app integration points (committed dist per app)
  augcom/     AugCom web app
  player/     InterAACtionPlayer
  scene/      InterAACtionScene
  gazeplay/   GazePlay (ground-up Angular reimplementation)
packages/
  gaze-client/  Unified gaze API (Tobii companion → WebGazer fallback)
  gaze-bridge/  Generic gaze-to-click adapter injected into apps
companion/    Optional native bridge for Tobii eye-trackers

Credits

This project is a derivative of AFSR/InterAACtionBox, initiated and maintained by the Association Française du Syndrome de Rett (AFSR). The full commit history from the upstream project is preserved here. See NOTICE for details.

License

GPL-3.0, inherited from upstream. See LICENSE.