EYE TRACKING CAN GIVE YOU AN INSIGHT INTO WHAT IS MOST ATTRACTIVE TO PEOPLE
and variable focus in VR content, more closely mimicking real human eyesight in virtual settings. There are huge opportunies in gaming, of course. Ganzin even developed its own game demo, The Eyes Of Medusa, in which the user turns enemies into stone with the power of her petrifying gaze. “It’s very easy to use as well. It’s quite natural, since you’re using your gaze all the time. When you want to pick up a cup, for example, your gaze goes to the cup first before you pick it up,” says Lin. The company has also developed its own glasses, called Sol, which are accompanied by a development kit for commercial applications. As with any input technology, while users are employing it for control, they are also producing data. Eye-tracking technology can reveal a huge amount about the user. What they are interested in can perhaps be determined before the person themselves is even aware of it. Pupil size can reveal arousal or interest. Drivers or workers wearing AR glasses incorporating eye tracking could be
notified when fatigue is setting in or when concentration is slipping. “They say the eyes are the window of the soul – I think that is quite true. Through someone’s eyes, we can know a lot about people,” explains Lin. EYEWARE Eyeware, headquartered in Martigny, Switzerland, is another eye-tracking software start-up launched in 2016, also as a research spin-off – in this case from the AI specialist Idiap Research Institute and Lausanne- based university EPFL. The company has been developing eye-tracking solutions for a variety of AI-driven applications, from laptops and smartphones to cars and simulators, and for potential use in retail. Using eye tracking in flight simulators and for pilot training is another space being watched closely. “The original idea was to try to democratise eye tracking on consumer- grade devices,” says Eyeware account manager Chase Anderson. “The historical problem with eye tracking in all domains is that it’s been quite expensive and finicky. We wondered,
can we do this with everyday, consumer-grade 3D cameras? And what new opportunities would that open up for multiple industries?” Outside of industrial deployment, one of the most consistent uses of Eyeware technology is in research. “One project was measuring attention based on who was speaking. If you had men and women sitting around a table, how much attention goes to each of them. Does an older man speaking get more attention versus a younger woman? What affects that? It’s for anyone who wants to study attention and attention behaviour.” The company has recently ventured into B2C applications, with eye- tracking solutions tailored specifically for gamers. Q2 of this year will see a public beta launch of their new product Eyeware Beam, an iPhone app for the gaming market. “We’re currently in private beta and focused on two main functionalities,”
VISIONARY SPECTACLE Ganzin Technology has produced an eye-tracking glasses system called Sol
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