iGaze connects devices with a glance

Scientists have built  a wearable headset called iGaze that tracks your gaze and connects you to the devices you look at.

iGaze has an inbuilt eye-tracking camera that calculates in which direction the wearer is looking, and broadcasts it to all the nearby internet-connected devices, such as stereos and TVs through Wi-Fi. The device was developed by Lan Zhang at Tsinghua University in China who said it could let wearers interact with the world in various ways. The paper was presented at MobiCom in Maui, Hawaii, this month.

The devices within the field of view reply with a beep played through the headset. When the wearer hears it, they nod to verify a desire to connect. The speakers in the headset send out an inaudible sound which the microphones in the nearby devices use to calculate where the wearer is standing, allowing each device to distinguish if it has been selected.

Two people wearing the headsets can also connect. Researchers made the device with an aim to allow wearers to swap files or contact information with a glance or tap on the headset. For example, in museums, the device's head-up display could serve up extra information when a visitor looks at a given exhibit.

Focus on wearable technology has been increasing. Samsung has unveiled its new Gear GR virtual reality headset at the Samsung Unpacked event held at IFA Berlin earlier this month. The virtual reality headset is expected to be launched at a price of $199.

Source: New scientist