IT abroad: World’s first eye-tracking laptop out of lab

Tobii Technology has teamed up with Lenovo to develop the world’s first eye-tracking laptop, which is currently being demonstrated at the CeBIT 2011 show, Hannover, Germany.

The technology, developed by Tobii’s specialists and implemented in Lenovo’s laptop, is based on invisible infrared lights and special cameras. The system needs to be calibrated for each person and can work for people with or without eyeglasses.

Rather than a replacement for existing control interfaces — traditional mouse and keyboard or the newer touch screen — the eye-tracking technology could be a complement, making a computer faster and more efficient to use. Thus the computer can scroll a text on the screen in response to eye movements, sensing when the reader reached the end of the visible text, zoom pictures and automatically centre on the area the user wishes to look at etc.

In addition, the screen's brightness can be auto dimmed and brightened as it recognized the user's eyes, in order to save power. The technology may besides prove useful in games and media applications.

As for today, Tobii and Lenovo have produced 20 eye-controlled laptops for demonstration and development purposes.