Eye-controlled arcade games move closer
Summary: Swedish company Tobii has shrunk the size and updated the software of its eye-tracking device and hopes to see the technology go into use in the medical, design, presentation, surveillance and gaming industries
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Eye-tracking technology on an arcade game
Eye-tracking specialist Tobii released a new version of its eye tracking technology — the Tobii IS-2 Eye Tracker module — at CeBIT on Monday.
The company says its technology is now more responsive and can fit in a wider range of hardware, including gaming machines.
The technology (pictured) uses two infrared projectors to illuminate the users' pupils and two small cameras to record their positions as they change, then feed this data to the onboard processors, which then output the person's eye position, pupil size and gaze position.
The new module is much, much smaller than its predecessor, which Tobii demonstrated at the show last year. It was also used in a prototype eye-tracking Lenovo laptop, which was tried out by ZDNet UK editorial staff in our offices.
The most striking thing about using the technology, both first and second generation, is the ease with which your brain acclimatises to it. ZDNet UK found that after about half a minute of use you forgot your eyes were a control interface; the feeling is similar to how, when using a desktop mouse, you never think of the hand controlling it and instead think about the cursor on the screen.
The new device is "much, much cheaper", Sara Hyleen, the company's corporate marketing manager, told ZDNet UK on Monday. The company did not disclose prices and said the device will be exclusively sold to original equipment makers as a component.
According to Tobii, the 200mm wide, 25mm deep and 20mm high module is 75-percent smaller and uses 40-percent less power than its predecessor.
Photo credit: Jack Clark
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