A Danish company hopes to clinch deals with major
mobile phone and tablet makers after developing software that enables
users to control their devices by moving their eyes, it said Wednesday.
"You can use it for basic control, such as
turning to the next page in an e-book, and playing games with your
eyes," chief executive and co-founder of The Eye Tribe, Sune Alstrup
Johansen, told AFP.
The software uses infrared light reflected
from the pupil of the eye, which is recorded by the device's camera,
enabling users to scroll or click on their screens with their eyes.
When you are reading an e-book and get to the
bottom of the page, the software will know to turn to the next page, or
if you look away from the screen it will dim it.
The Eye Tribe is made up of four PhD students
who founded the company a year ago. They received $800,000 (615,000
euros) in funding in August to develop the technology.
The company plans to release the technology at no cost to other software developers early next year, Alstrup Johansen said.
"We are releasing software developing kits to
developers so they can actually start developing applications. We
intend to give it away, it won't cost anything," he said.
"We do not intend to develop all apps ourselves, we are allowing the (software) community to develop apps," he said.
Alstrup Johansen said Eye Tribe aims to get
their software integrated in the hardware of big tablet producers, so
consumers can buy a tablet with the software and then download apps that
run with the eye control technology.
The Eye Tribe aims to earn money from
licensing fees from companies producing the hardware or platforms, such
as Apple, Samsung, Google or Microsoft.
Cameras on current mobile devices still need
to be connected to a small unit with an infrared camera to work with the
software, but Alstrup Johansen said next-generation devices would very
likely be able to use the software.
"At the moment, if people want to use the
software, they need an additional device that has either been added to a
current smartphone or tablet, or a new hardware device that is not yet
on the market," he said.
The technology is expected to significantly
change the way users play games and use apps, said John Paulin Hansen, a
former PhD supervisor for the four co-founders.
"I am convinced that it will radically change
things. It will be a completely hands-free interaction with mobile
devices," he said.
"The most interesting effect will be for all
kinds of games, education and entertainment purposes," he said, adding
that disabled people would also benefit greatly.
© 2012 AFP
Retweet this story
© 2012 AFP
No comments:
Post a Comment