SMI Eye Tracking

One of the challenges for wearable Health Tech devices is the user interface; how can you interact with and control the device if it’s too small for a touch panel or if you have physical limitations that prevent you from using traditional input technologies? There is no single answer to this problem. Speech recognition, touch, gesture, and even brain interfaces all have a part to play, but one of the most promising is eye tracking. These systems can tell where a user is focusing their eyes, and commands can be initiated simply by looking at something on a screen.

SensoricMotoric Instruments (SMI) is one of the worldwide leaders in eye tracking technology. The company recently announced a major milestone; their platform is now available for developers on all major consumer computing platforms. This includes smartphones, tablets, notebook computers, desktop monitors, and kiosks. The technology is even available on head-mounted display systems for virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) applications. This means that developers can create products that work the same way across a variety of display systems.

The broad availability of a robust and proven eye tracking system could encourage more wearable Health Tech device manufacturers to increase their use of this technology for all or part of their user interface. This is one more area where maturing technologies are combining to make innovative solutions possible.