eye tracking

[gamma]

Im curious if naturalpoint has looked at developing eye tracking hardware?

From If Looks Could Kill � An Evaluation of Eye Tracking in Computer Games

Three different prototypes of eye controlled computer games were developed. The first was a shoot�em up game where the player aimed with his eyes to shoot monsters that
appeared in random places. The two other prototypes were developed with the Half Life Software Development Kit. In the first Half Life prototype, the player aimed a weapon with his eyes. In the second, the view of sight was controlled with the eyes.

The different eye controlled game prototypes were evaluated in a usability study. The subjects played the different prototypes with mouse and eyes respectively. Their experience was evaluated with the thinking aloud method, questionnaires and an interview. The result showed that interaction with the eyes is very fast, easy to learn and perceived to be natural and relaxed. According to the usability study, eye control can provide a more fun and committing gaming experience than ordinary mouse control.

The Tobii hardware used in the tests is currently way beyond a gamers budget(10s of thousands), and also out of the budget of most who are in need of this kind of assistive technology. COGAIN(Communication by Gaze Interaction) is an organisation trying to bring the industry together in developing an affordable solution in this area.

For myself, I wish to see eye tracking integrated with stereoscopic 3D gaming to allow shifting focal depth, although I fear it is a long way off yet(affodability wise).

[Jim]

Hello:

NaturalPoint was first called Eye Control Technologies, and we were in the eye tracking market place. We have extensive experience in this area and if the market demands a consumer eye tacker, we would love to develop a product for it.

[gamma]

interesting Jim What factors made the company switch from eye to head tracking?(if you dont mind me asking)

[Jim]

Eye tracking is a very interesting problem to work on, but it definitely didn't pass the "no manual" test, so it had a limited market for us, with head tracking, it has a much broader appeal, or that has been our experience.