Eye-Tracking Laptop Technology eye-gaze data

I looked at the laptop, and the laptop looked back. Tobii Technology, the company behind technology that allows users to control their laptop's interface with their eyes, came into the PCMag offices today, giving us a chance to look over one of its proof-of-concept prototypes. The eye-tracking technology isn't quite ready for mass-market use, but the ingredients are definitely there to bring a new level of interaction to your computer within the next few years.

The prototype laptop is the result of a partnership with Lenovo, and puts Tobii's proprietary sensor technology into a fairly conventional looking package. It uses infrared lights to track "corneal reflection," or the glint off of the eye. Our video footage shows the two sensors flickering at high speed, which only our video camera could detect (the human eye can't see the flickering). These specialized sensors capture corneal reflections at 30 to 40 Hertz (or 30-40 images per second), determining not only where your eyes are looking, but their position in 3D space as well. After a brief calibration process, which involves looking at 9 points on the laptop screen, the sensor follows your eyes for as long as they are turned on.

The "eye-gaze data," as Tobii calls it, is vital, as it provides a new level of input that accompanying software can use in any number of ways. At its most basic, the eye-tracking can take over cursor control from the mouse, letting you move the cursor with your eyes.

More refined uses, as Tobii demonstrated for us, included such tasks as automatic scrolling as you read further down the page in a document. The sensors can also track gaze points, where, for instance, gazing at an image for a few seconds brings it to the forefront. In an image slideshow, you can pan through images by looking left and right, and control lighting by staring away and then back at the menu. Point-and-shoot games become glance and shoot, and menus can be rapidly navigated with ease.

Using the new device is at once simple and difficult, if only because you're forced to focus on where your eyes go. Stray glances pull up unwanted menus, and using your eyes to control familiar functions, like using a touchpad, did take some getting used to. It's not a hands-free experience either. You'll have to use keys on the keyboard to execute many of the commands. For instance, image zoom is a two-step process: Focus your eyes on a particular part of the image, then hit a key to zoom. The same applies to opening applications and documents. What the eye-tracking technology is supposed to do, as Tobii explains it, is minimize hand involvement in computing tasks, not eliminate it altogether.

What form the technology will take when it reaches consumers is yet to be seen. This prototype is one of the first steps in bringing eye-tracking technology from the realm of academic research and into the mass market. It needs some work before that happens—the technology seemed to have trouble tracking the eyes of one of our team who was wearing powerful prescription glasses. Much of the fine tuning will occur on the software side, as developers find new ways to get your eyes involved in whatever you're doing. One thing is for sure: You'll want to keep an eye on where this new technology is heading.