CES 2014: is eye-tracking the future PC mouse?

[persia]

Las Vegas: Could gaze be the way we interact with our computers in the future?
Tobii Technology, which recently announced a partnership with gaming accessories company SteelSeries, believes so. At the Consumer Electronics Show this week, Tobii unveiled its EyeX Dev Kit, that will allow third-party developers to "gaze-enable" their video games for when SteelSeries releases a consumer device using Tobii's eye-tracking hardware later this year.



The technology lets users gaze at a desktop computer, tablet or laptop and use eye movements to play a game or interact with applications on Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system. The device sends a pattern of infrared light to the user's eyes and tracks its reflections. Unlike pointing a laser at your eye, it doesn't hurt.

Speaking during a demonstration of the eye tracking technology, Peter Tiberg, strategic business development manager at Tobii, said the device would be released in the US summer. No launch for Australia has been announced.
The technology provides "similar precision as touch", Tiberg said. "If you can hit a link or an object with your finger on the screen, you can also hit it with your eyes.



There are really no limitations to the possibilities."
The technology is a descendant of a 2001 research project at Stockholm University, first conducted by Tobii's founders. It has been exhibited at the CES for a number of years but has never been available to buy.
When it launches, the company hoped there will be around 100 gaze-enabled applications for Windows operating system, its focus for now.
Tobii showed off a number of prototype devices at the show, including a Samsung Series 900 laptop and a desktop display unit.
"We are hoping that all kinds of gaming companies and developers will start developing content for it just like when touch came [along]. In the beginning there weren't so [many apps] but now [almost] everything is touch-enabled."
When using a prototype Tobii, I was able to open a mapping application on a Windows 8 laptop using my eyes and a button click. I was then able to zoom in to my street address from afar.
I also tried the eye-tracking technology while playing Starcraft. It let me move characters on the screen by selecting them with a mouse and then directing them to their new positions with my eyes.
The technology is surprisingly accurate and simple to use. To get started, you need a less-than-1-minute calibration test, and tell the software your name and whether you wear contact lenses.
The calibration is done to create a model of your eyes, which is used by the device to track them, and involves a small dot moving around the screen at intervals.
"Touch is fine once in a while, but to sit and work with your hands on a vertical surface is pretty tedious for your muscle and for your arms," Tiberg said. "This is actually a perfect environment when you can use your eyes."
The EyeX Dev Kit will ship in March for $US95.

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/computers/ces-2014-is-eyetracking-the-future-pc-mouse-20140109-30jb5.html

[commodorejohn]

Spending any significant length of time trying to precisely position your gaze is a recipe for eyestrain.

But hey, guess we need another dumb, counterproductive gimmick interface for futurists to wank to!

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Spending any significant length of time trying to precisely position your gaze is a recipe for eyestrain.

But hey, guess we need another dumb, counterproductive gimmick interface for futurists to wank to!

It might work as mouse-assistant, for, say, focusing on different windows

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

I would choose this over a touchscreen if only because I'm OCD and hate those damned finger-smudges on monitors.   :destroy:

[Iggy]

And I'll be keeping my mouse, thank you.

[Crumb]

@persia

a new world of multi-monitor pleasure for cross-eyed people!

[zylesea]

No, thanks. My gazing at the monitor is definitely not identical to my mouse movements.

[ajlwalker]

@persia

a new world of multi-monitor pleasure for cross-eyed people!

Now THAT made me laugh!

[Iggy]

No, thanks. My gazing at the monitor is definitely not identical to my mouse movements.

'But boss, I've got the crystal ball!' Frank Zappa Cosmic Debris

[persia]

[Tygre]

Hi there!

For my research lab., I bought few years back a EyeLink II from SRResearch (http://www.sr-research.com/eyelinkII.html) and more recently a FaceLab 5 from Seeing Machines (http://www.seeingmachines.com/product/facelab/). Although they are great, especially the more recent FaceLab, they still require some calibration and getting used to... plus what we look is not what we click!

Cheers!

[gertsy]

Spending any significant length of time trying to precisely position your gaze is a recipe for eyestrain.
!

Isn't that just  your eyes do instantly? Reading for instance.
The challenge will be blinking, incidental movement and how you click.
Think of the possibilities for less able people. It will be a godsend.

[Astral]

As is the case with the mouse, joystick, touch type devices, voice recognition and so on...this eye thing will have it's place - that is to say it will suit some applications and not others. And, part of it's success would of course depend on configurability, integratability and so on.

Future trend predictions can be hard...but I don't think it will be "massively popular".

I'm with Gertsy on this one - for challenged people this most certainly will have it's place. It would probably also be useful in applications where hand movements are used for other functions - and so a "normal" device can't be used.

[Tygre]

@gertsy

Actually, our eyes move constantly (or almost) and their movements can be divided between saccades and fixations, based on physiological thresholds. For most people, a saccades is an eye movements under 200 ms, above that threshold it is considered a fixation: the moment during which the light is captured by the eyes and a signal transfered to the brain. The Soviets even did funny experiments in their time, gluing micro-projectors on people eyes...

@Astral

Eye-tracking has many, many useful applications in lots of domains, regaring people with impairment, look at what it can do for Stephen Hawking: http://iq.intel.com/iq/26909838/how-intel-helps-stephen-hawking-communicate-with-the-world

Cheers!

[commodorejohn]

I like how, in persia-land, calling out stupid technology for being stupid equals being blanketly opposed to all technology. That's definitely how that works. Guess there sure are a lot of Luddites around in that case...you know, like all the people who didn't buy 3D TVs that the industry wanted them to buy, who passed on Windows 8 which Microsoft wanted them to buy, who gave the finger to the original XBone and its draconian infringements of customer rights that Microsoft wanted them to buy into, and so on and so forth. Shame on them, the horrible, horrible Luddites! Don't they understand that any new technology is granted to mortals by the Tech Gods and must be slavishly tongued in appreciation?

Isn't that just  your eyes do instantly? Reading for instance.
The challenge will be blinking, incidental movement and how you click.
Think of the possibilities for less able people. It will be a godsend.

Your eyes move pretty much constantly; the hard part is keeping them fixed in a specific direction when they reflexively want to move. Try directing your gaze around the corners of your field of vision for a few minutes, and see how long it takes you to start getting a headache.