Eye Power – Using Your Eyes To Control Things

from the sign-me-up dept

There have been similar technologies talked about for years, but it sounds like advancements in “eye control” of computers and electronics may be getting to the point where it’s much more practical in every day life. The system uses infrared technology to determine what you’re looking at. That can be useful for many different things. For example, the article talks about how your lights could come on in your bedroom automatically when you wake up (I can see downsides to this as well…), or how you could change the radio station you’re listening to just by blinking at it. They also have created a special pair of eyeglasses that follows where you’re looking. This can be used to “collect information” about what people who you are talking to are “saying” with their eye movements. More practically, they could be used for drivers to notice when their eyes are leaving the road (such as if they’re falling asleep). They also describe a way to use the technology similar to the mobile phone we discussed earlier that knows your busy. However, instead of using ambient noise or other factors, this phone works by looking at your eyes. If you’re concentrating on the computer screen and reading, it may not interrupt you. If you’re looking around the room, it suggests you’re more open to accepting a phone call.


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Comments on “Eye Power – Using Your Eyes To Control Things”

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4 Comments
Ed Halley says:

No Subject Given

Very good ideas, with some foreseeable problems (no pun intended). There are cameras which can track eye direction and try to focus on the object which you indicate. I would *love* to be able to lift my head from my pillow, stare at the wall near my lightswitch, and thus turn on the light (or other such features).

However, for the sensor to work at any distance, what is it going to really measure? Retinal reflection of an invisible wavelength? What’s the range? Since the retinas reflect more when well-oxygenated (and young), will age or mild hypoxia or glasses become a bigger handicap to these devices?

kai says:

Sounds like...

a technology looking for a purpose… a hammer looking for a nail.

If I want my lights to turn off and on remotely, I’d use “the clapper.” If I want my radio to switch stations, I’d use some varient of “the clapper.”

only $19.95 here!
http://www.youcansave.com/clap.asp

Clapping shows intent on the part of the user, but blinking at the radio or opening your eyes would have a really high false positive rate.

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