BYU Students Take Eye Control to the Next Level

Okay, I'm sure you all remember when I posted about the awesome eye-controlled laptop from Tobii a while back, right? If you don't, you can always scroll down a bit and have a look.

Well, now some students from BYU are taking eye-control technology it a step further by adding something that's really needed in the EC market - affordablility.  You see, even Tobii's system, the PCEye is considered to be inexpensive in the EC market, and it costs a whopping $6,900. Let's face it, that's not something most people with the types of disabilities these systems are designed for can afford.

So, the students from BYU partnered up with EyeTech Digital Systems and created a Windows 7 tablet PC using eye tracking software developed by previous students (also partnered with EyeTech Digital). This was all part of their year-long capstone engineering requirement. The tablet is a bit thicker than usual, but only cost them $1,500. When you consider that an ordinary Windows 7 tablet retails for around $750, that's really not bad!

The eye tracking software uses a camera to track where a user is looking. This allows a user to control the cursor simply by moving their gaze around a screen. Blinking will perform a mouse click.  The tablet will run any Windows program, from Solitare to Skype, and EyeTech Digital plans to market the technology as an alternative to the sophisticated systems that are already out there.

And hey, at that price, even tech enthusiasts like me could consider buying one. I can definitely see the possibilities.

Move Over Motion-Control

Forget motion controlled systems that still use a controller like the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation Move.  Heck, you can even forget about motion controlled systems that require you to wave your hand or other parts of your body, like Microsoft's Kinect.  The next generation of motion control is already on it's way.

Picture this: you're playing an FPS (or other first-person view game) and instead of pushing a control stick or keyboard button to move down the next path all you do is *look* in the direction you want to go.  Imagine reading a webpage that automatically scrolls as you read - no mouse or keyboard action required.  Sound interesting?  Then check this out:

The folks at Tobii teamed up with Lenovo to create 20 prototypes of this Windows 7 laptop that they unveiled yesterday at the CeBIT conference in Hanover, Germany.  That strip just below the screen is the current eye-control sensor, and there's also a large hump on the back.  Neither is attractive or practical, but it is just a prototype.  Future plans entail the sensor becoming much more narrow - about the size of the small space below the laptop screen today.  If you'd like a review of how it it performed (I'll give you a hit: excellently) head on over to Endgadget and check out their video of the laptop in action.


Between the new BCI technology and this new eye-control system, we are two steps closer to synchronicity.  The future is coming!  Are you ready?