Tobii: Navigate Windows and Destroy Asteroids … with Your Eyes

  • A small company was making waves at CES by demonstrating the world’s first eye-controlled arcade game — an adapted version of the classic Atari game “Asteroids.”
  • Tobii, a Swedish company previously focused on helping people with physical limitations, is eyeing far greater things for its technology.
  • At their booth the company had laptops outfitted with their eye-tracking technology. Attendees were flipping through photo albums, navigating Microsoft Windows and playing games. The systems were incredibly intuitive to navigate and very responsive, if not a little bulky.
  • Tobii plans to fix that, however, and in an estimated three to four years, it plans to shrink the sensor so that it doesn’t alter the form factors of the devices it’s used in, while not drastically impacting the price.
  • The technology works by shining a near infrared light onto the eye and detecting the reflections off the pupil.
  • Near infrared light was chosen as the operating wavelength because it offers a robust response that works reliably in any light, giving the user the freedom to use the controls no matter where they are.
  • The company is targeting a very broad market with plans to develop it as a touch-less assist for surgeons and license its OEM technology to various companies, including a car manufacturer interested in detecting driver drowsiness.

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