Tech Watch: Gaze Puts Eye Tracking to New Uses

Today marks the final day of the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the world’s largest show of its kind. This year boasted a record 3,100 exhibitors showcasing more than 20,000 new products.

Over the past four days everyone from tech-geek journalists to suited executives have been circulating the Las Vegas Convention Center floor, analyzing, if not drooling over, the latest gadgets and software, predicting which of them will likely change the course of daily life.

One emerging innovation showcased at the CES is particularly pertinent to the healthcare industry: Tobii Technology’s Gaze Interaction software. The Swedish tech company puts eye tracking technology to several new uses in a number of industries.

Eye tracking has been around for several years, often employed by software and web development companies to monitor how people visually interact with text and images. In essence, eye tracking technology uses infrared light to illuminate the eyes while a sensor captures the reflection in the eyes. Analysis software can then determine where the user is looking and how long they look at certain spots, among several other data analyses.

Gaze Interaction software allows eye tracking technology to be applied to any software or interface on a computer. For example, Gaze allows laptop users to open new windows, zoom in or out, sift through browser tabs, open widgets or other menus, and even initiate a search or enter a URL just by looking at the correct area on the screen.

 
In the medical field doctors will be able to control images used for surgical procedures, x-rays, ultrasounds, etc. using just a shift of the eye. They can freeze videos, pan, zoom, save images, and more, while their hands are kept sterile. According to IQ, nurses in hospitals may soon be able to record patient data simply by looking at it onscreen, saving time and paperwork.

Tobii has already applied Gaze to the video game realm by creating their own eye-controlled version of the classic arcade game, Asteroids. Tobii expects eye control to become commonplace in the gaming industry, allowing for more immersive gaming experiences.

Players will be able to interact with characters using their eyes, just as they do in real life. “With Gaze, characters you meet in a game can appear and act more realistically. Shyer characters may look away from you when you look at them. Aggressive characters could do the exact opposite by staring right back at you and snarling.”

 
With limitless applications to our daily lives, Gaze and similar technology have far more potential than to simply replace mouse and touch-screen technology. We’re eager to see what it can’t conquer.

 

Contact Noble Vision Group