EyeTech Digital Systems - Eye Tracking Hardware and Software Solutions

Game Developer Conference 2011 at Moscone Center in San Francisco – March 2-4, 2011

Now going on 4 years of attending GDC, this year EyeTech Digital Systems got some significant press for a few reasons:

• The first laptop with built in eye-tracking was announced recently.
• The Microsoft Kinect does motion tracking, eye-tracking is the next step, right?
• Instead of just interacting on a monitor with eyes, why not command a laser?

Having been featured as the “Best Tech” of GDC 2011 by Destructoid’s overview of the GDC, EyeTech showed off its ability to track a person’s eyes in real-time and move a turret with a laser.  Within a fraction of a second of looking at a point on the wall, the laser moves to the exact spot!

A five second calibration routine makes the demo scary-accurate.  The built in IR camera in EyeTech’s hardware acquires the user’s eyes in a split second. The VT1 and the VT2 models were on display at this year’s GDC.

EyeTech’s robust image processing algorithms work with a large percentage of the population and even work with most people that wear glasses.  Two IR light sources reflect off the cornea of the eye and provide a reference for the eye tracker to measure where your pupil has moved.  After an initial mapping or calibration to the corners of the screen, your actual line of sight from each eye is calculated and X-Y data is outputted by EyeTech’s Quick Glance software.

Two attention drawing demos at the GDC that use the same technology include:

1. Connect To Your PC or TV with Eye Gesture Technology – EyeTech demoed how eye gesture technology will be in the PCs, TVs and Kiosks of the future.  Already installed in a number of museums and science centers, the demo shows off EyeTech’s Quick Exhibit interactive display software which features an automated calibration and eye games including:

• Eye Remote – TV controlled with your eye movements
• Eye Capture – Gaze tracking software with heat-map generation
• Eye Game control – reaction game which scores you based on the speed of your eye response
• Eye Type – keyboard for complete hands free computer mouse for TV and PCs

2. Research and Usability Testing: GazeTracker, one of the many research software packages that work with EyeTech’s hardware, showed how it can track a person’s interactions within websites, movies, games, user-interfaces, advertisements, etc.  First setup the usability test, then people go through and use or interact with the stimulus.  Then, a number of post processing steps can be done to find out how people use (or don’t use) your UI, advertisement or website.  Heat-maps, gaze-trails and other features show initial reactions and how people really use your products, not just where they move their mouse.

Gameplay of the future. Kiosks of the future.  Improved usability and advertising now.  EyeTech Digital Systems expects to be integrated into monitors, laptops, tablets, smart phones and even cars in the coming years.  Eye tracking is a game changer that is opening new doors and changing how people expect to interact with technology.