Tobii and Lenovo laptop show off prototype eye-controlled A lot of companies including heavyweights like Microsoft -- believe that motion control is the future of the human-machine interface. But it's an awful lot of work to wave your hands around every time you want to change windows, isn't it? Swedish firm Tobii, which specializes in eye control, teamed up with Lenovo to craft a run of 20 prototype Windows 7 laptops with eye control sensors built-in, and we had a chance to check out the setup here at CeBIT today.
The initial prototype is significantly larger than an equivalent notebook to accommodate the large sensor, but Tobii hopes to get the size and cost down in the next two years by working with Lenovo. The two companies each have 10 prototypes to help work on the technology in a real environment.
This sounds like an excellent system for the disabled that can’t use their hands or have limited control of their hands. Tobii and Lenovo constructed a first batch of 20 laptops using the tech and each will get ten of the machines to use for testing and demonstration. According to Tobii with the tech on the notebooks all the user has to do is look at a widget to get more detail on it rather than clicking.
"To reach a state where the technology is part of the average computer, we need to make it smaller and cheaper. We believe that this can be realized in a couple of years by partnering with the right manufacturer."
The system sounds great - not only would it be perfect for lazy so-and-sos like team Pocket-lint, it could help massively with personal computing for those with physical disabilities.
The world's first laptop with integrated eye control is on show over at CeBIT in Hannover now. The trade show runs until 5 March.
As for commercialization, they're still a ways off they're thinking two years if they can team up with the right partner. Tobii says that there's a trade-off between sensor size and accuracy; the prototype has a sizable hump on the back and a roughly inch-wide strip running directly below the display, both of which are pretty impractical for a truly portable machine. The sensor must be below the display, we're told, though it could be made quite a bit thinner -- no wider than the bezel you've got below your notebook's current display. Follow the break for a full video demo.
