And Oculus, which by nature of its Facebook connection has already found itself under the data-collection microscope, has confirmed to WIRED that eye-tracking will not appear in either of its planned standalone devices. The company claims to have made this policy clear to all the headset manufacturers that it works with, from Qualcomm to StarVR. But anyone using that analytical license, he says, must inform users and make eye-tracking data collection an opt-in process. He points to eye-tracking's potential as a diagnostic tool for autism spectrum disorders, to its applications for phobia research. Tobii does allow for analytic collection, Werner allows the company has a business unit focused on working with research facilities and universities. It's not storable, and it doesn't leave the device." We do not allow applications to store or transfer eye-tracking data or aggregate over multiple users. "Pictures of your eyes never go to developers-only gaze direction. "We take a very hard, open stance," he says. Not a chance, according to Oscar Werner, the president of Tobii's consumer business unit. If you're looking for the Black Mirror outcome to the VR/AR story, those are the things to file in your Dystopian Potential subfolder. One study has even shown that gaze-tracking can be (mis)used to influence people's biases and decision-making.
That's the kind of information advertisers and marketers would do just about anything to get their hands on. Watching not just what your eyes are doing, but where they look and for how long-in other words, tracking your attention. There's also that whole cameras-watching-your-eyes thing. FaceSwitch is intended to help computer users with limited mobility from the neck down but who have a good level of control of facial muscles by allowing those users to use facial gestures as on-off switches to control accessibility software.However. The program leverages a deformable face-tracker to create a multi-switch system driven by face gestures. to speed up interaction).Ī gaze-reactive on-screen keyboard that allows motor-impaired users who cannot read or write to communicate with their eyes, using a hierarchy of gaze-aware semantic icons and a speech synthesizer.įaceSwitch is an application that transforms predefined facial gestures to specific keyboard keystrokes.
The software also allows the user to augment the system via accessibility switches (e.g. left button mouse click, scrolling, etc) by gazing at a reactive taskbar on the border of the computer screen. The interaction is achieved using a two-step process by which the user selects a desired computer control task (e.g.
This software allows the user to fully control a Windows computer using only their eye movements and a low-cost eye tracker (less than NZ$150). television, lights, air conditioning) via an interface that expands our gaze control software.”Įxamples of the applications created by teams of Otago Polytechnic Bachelor of Information technology students under David's guidance are:
In 2018 we are going to try to expand the software to control the home environment (e.g. “The software is available through an online repository to anyone “regardless of financial circumstances”, David says. “During 2017 the students and I refined and polished what had been done the previous year. “We have leveraged capstone projects in our Bachelor of Information Technology (BIT) degree programme to guide students towards the creation of a range of open-source accessibility software solutions.”ĭavid Rozado's vision is to provide low-cost user-friendly accessibility software for this small but high-needs group, relying on their facial gestures, voice prompts and eye movement. Development on these projects is continuing, and the accessibility software is open source to allow skilled software developers to add features or improve existing functionality.
“Until recently, open-source accessibility software solutions have been relatively scarce and the existing ones do not match the range of commercial programs. “Due to the relatively small size of the severely motor-impaired community and the large fixed costs of developing accessibility software, commercial accessibility software solutions are often relatively expensive,” says David. This affects people with a range of conditions including motor neuron disease, a spinal cord injury, some congenital conditions, severed limbs, or stroke. This means that people who are unable to use a mouse or keyboard are severely limited in their ability to engage with society. Modern technologically driven societies rely on information technology for almost everything: social interaction, work, entertainment, education, and banking for example. David Rozado would like to help people access computers even if they can't use a mouse or keyboard.