Tobii and Microsoft Collaborate to bring Eye Tracking Support in Windows 10

Today, Microsoft announced Eye Control, a featured in-box experience leveraging eye gaze, a type of input now officially supported in Windows 10. Tobii is pleased to announce that the Tobii Eye Tracker 4C will be the first to support this feature, with testing currently being finalized for compatibility in Tobii Dynavox, Acer, Alienware and MSi products. This integration opens the door to more humanized user interactions and use cases for eye tracking in broad areas such as gaming and productivity.

“Adding native eye tracking support to Windows 10 is a key milestone in our mission to make this technology part of our everyday devices,” said Henrik Eskilsson, CEO of Tobii. “Through integration with Microsoft’s operating system, it becomes possible over time to realize robust eye tracking implementations that add a range of user benefits. This collaboration clearly shows the value of eye gaze input and is a big step forward on the long-term journey to drive high-volume adoption of eye tracking.”

“Bringing Eye Control to Windows 10 will empower people using just their eyes to utilize Windows features,” said Jenny Lay-Flurrie, Chief Accessibility Officer at Microsoft. “We are incredibly grateful for the partnership with the ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) and MND (motor neuron disease) communities and Tobii for their active engagement and feedback throughout the development cycle. We look forward to our ongoing collaboration to further develop these features in future releases as we continue on our mission to empower people to achieve more.”

Eye tracking has already been tested across many fields of use, from full-scale, hands-free accessibility to immersive gaming. By incorporating eye tracking support natively into Windows 10, Microsoft immediately gives users a new method of input for added control. Tobii and Microsoft have collaborated to ensure a robust technology integration, and to define which features will be included in Windows 10. Initially, eye gaze will be used in a set of accessibility features to enable typing and moving the mouse cursor with your eyes. This integration of eye tracking into Windows 10, aligns with Tobii’s long term vision of taking eye tracking mainstream and puts Microsoft on the cutting edge of human computer interaction. 

“With eye tracking, devices can better understand our intentions, a key ability in creating truly natural human-computer interaction,” says Oscar Werner President of Tobii Tech. “Eye tracking support in Windows 10 has the potential to form a new paradigm that fundamentally transforms how we interact with our devices.”

Read more

• Learn more by reading this blog post here
• See video of accessibility use cases here
• See video of use cases in productivity here
• Read how to get started with Microsoft Eye Control on Windows 10 and compatible devices here
• Learn more about eye tracking devices from Tobii Tech here and Tobii Dynavox here  
• Visit tobiigaming.com to learn more about Tobii’s game portfolio

This information is information that Tobii AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out below, on August 1, 2017, at 6:00 p.m. CET.

Contact

Patrik von Bergen, CMO, Tobii Tech - phone: +46 766 310 735, e-mail: patrik.von.bergen@tobii.com

Joshua Luebke, FleishmanHillard - Phone: +1 415-318-4028, e-mail: Joshua.Luebke@Fleishman.com

About Tobii

Tobii is the global leader in eye tracking. Our vision is a world where all technology works in harmony with natural human behavior. Tobii operates through three business units: Tobii Dynavox makes specially designed computers that are controlled by eye movement or touch screens for use by people with special needs due to spinal cord injuries, CP, ALS or other medical conditions. Tobii Pro develops and sells eye-tracking equipment and services used today by more than 3,000 companies and 2,000 research institutions, including all of the world’s 50 highest ranked universities. Tobii Tech further develops Tobii’s technology for new volume markets, such as computer games, personal computers, virtual reality and smartphones. Tobii is headquartered in Sweden and is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm (TOBII). The group has over 800 employees. For more information, please visit www.tobii.com.

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