Windows 8 Gaze Interface: Tobii Eye-Control System To Debut At CES 2012

Old and busted: Your computer mouse.
New hotness: Your eyes.

The Swedish technology company Tobii is set to unveil its eye control system for Windows 8, which allows users to control and move the cursor on the screen simply by looking where they wanted to click.

The Windows 8 Gaze Interface will be on display at CES 2012, and to excite the masses, Tobii has released a video showing how its eye-control technology will work on the upcoming edition of Microsoft Windows.

WATCH:

Microsoft Windows 8 -- the operating system you see above -- was formally introduced and detailed at Microsoft's BUILD Conference for Windows developers in September 2011. The forthcoming OS is optimized for the touches and swipes of touchscreens and tablets, but Tobii has taken the yet-to-be-released Windows 8 and made it controllable with your eyes. The reason, per a press release from Tobii:

With its large tiles, Windows 8 Metro has been praised as a great interface for handheld touch devices. However, using your hands on a touch screen-enabled laptop or desktop computer is not an ideal ergonomic solution, and your hands would also interfere with the objects you would like to click on, drag, rotate or zoom.

The Tobii Gaze interface uses a combination of eye gaze and touch pad to enable all seven primary touch commands of Windows 8 (e.g., activate, select, zoom, scroll, etc.) in a way that is more natural, efficient and precise than any other control when used on laptops and desktops.

Tobii specializes in all things eye control. It recently outed the first eye-controlled arcade game, a classic asteroids shooter, at the Dave & Buster's restaurant in New York City's Times Square; in March 2011, the company debuted the first eye-controlled laptop in a partnership with Lenovo. All three systems -- the arcade game, the Lenovo laptop and the Windows 8 Interface -- will be on display at CES, the massive, yearly consumer tech show at which technology companies large and small showcase their products for the coming year. (HuffPost's coverage of the event begins January 9th and will run all week. Check out our roundup of predictions about what to expect.)

For more about the eyeball-tracking Gaze -- which Tobii calls "the future of computers" -- visit Tobii's official Gaze page here. Then, check out Windows 8's coolest official features in the slideshow (below).

Comments

[wilray]

05:17 AM on 02/21/2012

I still like thought control technology. I think it, and it happens.

Hey why does this computer keep showing me porn?

[muzamilw]

12:00 PM on 02/14/2012

This is awesome feature for mouse control, I wonder if it will be available as part of stock windows install for both ARM and x86 devices.

There is a good roundup of features of Windows 8 Consumer preview here which in my opinion is a great summary..

http://www.windows8core.com/complete-features-included-windows-8-consumer-preview/

[karen lyons kalmenson]

03:29 PM on 01/06/2012

eye caramba

[StephenJK]

01:36 PM on 01/06/2012

Does the double click become the double blink? Right click = Right blink etc.? That would be weird to watch someone operate that machine. All twitching and blinking. But, it definitely sounds interesting and cool.

[CannuckInUs]

02:46 AM on 01/06/2012

Have they tested this with Asian people........ zinnnnnnnnnnng

[KarateKid]

11:39 PM on 01/07/2012

Have they tested with _numbnuts like you?

[CannuckInUs]

12:46 PM on 01/08/2012

How do you blind fold an Asian?
Give him a shoe lace................ Zinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng. I am here till Tuesday folks

[malyka5]

02:24 AM on 01/06/2012

If those complaining about things being selected because they looked at them actually took the time to watch the video and/or listen to the comment, they'd have found out that you actually need to click on the touchpad for anything to be selected. Looking at the screen just replaces the cursor movement on the screen, nothing more.

[JWoode]

12:06 AM on 01/06/2012

My fingers are never that tired.

[farleft1917]

11:09 PM on 01/05/2012

It sounds like Windows 8 could be more than good looking. I own a lot of Apple products and some stock but Lion is an ugly mess with jelly bean icons.

Anyway Apple has really made MS step up its game. Imagine have a tablet with Windows 8 that can run real apps and have eye control, no more messy greasy screens...well it's all in the fine tuning..we'll see. Fun times.

[theveggiedude]

10:25 PM on 01/05/2012

It sounds like a good idea, but i wonder if it is practical? I think I would be annoyed if things i look at keep getting selected. It needs to be made invisible, so the user is not aware of its existence. Then, when you are ready to use it, clicking a button will select the thing you are looking at. That would make sense.

[poster1122]

07:20 PM on 01/05/2012

If it works, this technology could be interesting. I wasn't a fan of the Windows Metro style because I don't want my laptop or PC to be close enough to me to operate with touch. But the ability to navigate with just my eyes could be interesting. But I don't know how you'd select stuff, particularly blocks of text, with your eyes. The way touch devices do it now is cumbersome enough; I can't imagine how you'd make it easy with just something tracking your eyes without being even more cumbersome.

Still, I will keep an open mind until I get a chance to play with it first-hand.

[Dana Baltizar]

05:38 PM on 01/05/2012

With as easy as everything already is, do we really need something that takes less effort? I feel fatter just from watching this.

[arizonahd]

04:06 PM on 01/05/2012

I can't wait till the day where you can just lay there and control the computer with your brain!

[raybm112]

11:42 PM on 01/07/2012

Its only a matter of time before a computer IS ATTACHED to your BRAIN!! And then you will no longer have Control of anything.

[hlnpayne]

02:54 PM on 01/05/2012

i cant concentrate that long

[MikeyJaii]

01:31 PM on 01/05/2012

No!!! I just brought a new Wins 7!!! :(

[Jason Bullock]

03:28 PM on 01/05/2012

Don't worry, it's still well over a year away.

[Desolati0n]

01:05 PM on 01/05/2012

Is this what magic looks like?