Tobii Technology eye-tracking laptop first impressions

TOBII TECHNOLOGY'S eye-tracking prototype worked remarkably well but the kit is still bulky and expensive.

You might think that it would be difficult to use a computer with your eyes if you consider how often your eyes look around at different objects, only focusing on things briefly. This was not the case with Tobii's gaze tracking and the key to how its technology works so well is the fact that you can be deliberate in how you use your eyes to control the computer.

The demonstration model at CeBIT in Germany was a monitor that incorporated a 300Hz optical sensor. This sensor, which also uses illuminators, continuously captures images of the eyes to discern what you're looking at and focusing on in three dimensions.

The demo was effectively a short presentation that took you through the various functions that you can operate using your eyes. These included recognising gaze patterns, zoom focusing, on-screen navigation, auto scrolling and gaming.

To explain one of the functions in some detail, we were shown a set of thumbnails that automatically popped up on a bar when we looked towards the bottom of the screen. When we focused on one of the thumbnails the computer brought it up as the main image. If we then changed our focus to the main image, the bar of thumbnails disappeared. We could then zoom in with the mouse scroll wheel and the image would zoom in to the point our eyes were focused on.

Automatic scrolling was smooth and we could easily scroll up and down a document, while the computer adjusted how fast it moved depending on where on the screen we looked.

Other potential implementations of the technology were mentioned, such as using gaze recognition in marketing research, possible uses in driving situations and even surgery.

Overall the demo was very impressive even though it is still only a prototype. If Tobii Technology can continue to develop the technology so that it's smaller and cheaper then this could be something we might realistically expect to see come to market. Tobii told The INQUIRER that it predicts this may be possible within two years.

For a closer look at the Tobii eye-tracking prototype check out our video demo from CeBIT. µ