The disabled have yet another way to let technology work for them – and this time round it will be Tobii Technology that will help them out, with the introduction of a new eye controlled laptop. This is still not the final deal just yet, but a prototype at the moment and has been developed in collaboration with Lenovo of China. For those who are interested, you will be able to drop by CeBIT which is happening in Germany from March 1 to 5.
It makes perfect sense for Lenovo to be the manufacturer – after all, they are the world’s fourth largest manufacturer of personal computers, and it must be their honor to build the world’s first eye-controlled laptop, thanks to eye tracking technology from Tobii. The laptop, after all, is a fully functional conceptual prototype and will be an important breakthrough for Tobii as they intend to bring their own eye tracking technology to other serial production and consumer products.
It makes perfect sense to use one’s eyes to control your computer, after all, it is a natural form of movement, and boy are we glad to see technology progress to such a point where one is able to use one’s eyes to point, select and scroll through a myriad of windows.
According to Henrik Eskilsson, CEO of Tobii Technology, “More than anything else, the Tobii laptop prototype is proof that our eye tracking technology is mature enough to be used in standard computer interfaces. To reach a state where the technology is part of the average computer, we need to make it smaller and cheaper. We believe that this can be realized in a couple of years by partnering with the right manufacturer.”
You can’t find these in stores immediately though, since the first batch of eye-controlled laptops will only comprise of 20 units split evenly between Tobii Technology and Lenovo, and they’re up and available for development and demo purposes.
