Have you ever imagined that you could control everything with your eyes and make things move as they please?
Unfortunately, this cool, science-fiction setting has previously been confined to novels and movies, as "psychic" or "magic." In reality, this scenario seems impossible.
The dawn of this scene was briefly glimpsed around 2016 with the arrival of the first generation of AR/VR glasses and headsets, which allow people to experience immersive 3D. However, in the first generation of products, people can still only use their hands and head movements to operate. In addition, due to the technical limitations at that time, people tend to feel dizzy when using it, and the sense of immersion is also slightly inadequate.
But with the advent of eye-tracking technology, that idea may finally be a reality. People can control everything with their eyes. VR/AR and other devices can detect the difference in eye gaze position. This will not only avoid the vertigo of the virtual reality world, but also bring a sense of immersion.
The technology is gaining traction among tech giants, including SONY's PSVR 2, Meta's Cambriat, and apple's latest MR headset, eye tracking, according to multiple sources. This also indicates that eye movement tracking technology will become the direction of MR product development in the future.
MR products are widely recognized as the entrance of the metasurverse in the market, which is highly sought after in the market. As the direction marker of MR products, the importance of eye movement tracking technology to the metasurverse is self-evident.
According to this information, the tech giants are embracing eye-tracking technology and adopting it. Eye tracking technology has become the future development direction of MR products.
So could eye-tracking, the new core of the tech giants' MR products, open a new blue ocean in the future of the metasverse?
With problems, this paper will discuss eye movement tracking technology from the following three aspects:
1. What is eye tracking technology and how has it developed?
2. What is the value of eye movement tracking in various industries?
3. What market size and prospects will eye tracking technology have in the future?
Eye tracking, the new age of mind reading
As we all know, the brain is the "headquarters" of the body. People's memory, sleep, movement and language are inseparable from the control of our brain. And, of course, control of the visual senses. So, by monitoring eye movements, you can infer what's going on in the brain.
Eye tracking technology is based on this theory. As the name suggests, eye tracking is the process of monitoring the movement of the eye. At the heart of eye tracking research: determining where a human or animal is looking, such as updating pupils and eyeball changes in real time.
Just imagine, if MR devices can monitor the real-time movement of the eyes, through the analysis of the system algorithm, then we can deduce what the human brain wants to do at the moment, and can also provide more and faster "ideal service" for human beings.
Eye movement tracking technology, digital image processing through instruments and equipment, pupil positioning, pupil three-dimensional coordinates, and through artificial intelligence algorithm, calculate the eye fixation point, so that intelligent equipment know what you are looking at.
The development history of eye tracking technology can be divided into four stages: observation method; Mechanical recording method; Optical recording; Modern eye tracking recording. Among them, the first three methods all appeared in the early 20th century, now due to the invention and application of a variety of new technologies, these three have been eliminated from the market.
In the 21st century, more accurate, more stable, non-invasive eye tracking techniques have been developed. At present, there are corneal reflex method, sclera - iris margin method and pupil - corneal reflex vector method.
Corneal reflex method is mainly used in ocular dynamics and fixation point calibration, but the defect of large head error makes it difficult to apply to MR products requiring high precision.
The sclera - iris edge method is also used in eye dynamics and fixation point calibration. The advantages of this method are high horizontal accuracy, but its disadvantages are low vertical accuracy, large interference and large head error.
At present, the pupillary-corneal reflection vector method, also known as Pukinje image tracking method, is the most dominant method. This technique has the advantages of high precision, non-contact, little interference and non-invasive. The core principle of this method is that the direction of the eye is determined by the position of the center of the pupil relative to the reflection of the cornea.
Up/Figure 1 Down/Figure 2
As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the eyes form specific bright spots through corneal reflection, which can be determined by the relative position of the light source and the subject's head. If the subject kept his head still, the corneal reflex did not move when the eye moved, only the pupil did. The position relationship between the pupil center and corneal reflex changes can be clearly seen.
With the high accuracy and critical data provided by this method, pupure-corneal reflection vector method is now widely used in modern eye tracking devices.
In addition, AR/VR and other entry products of the meta-universe can collect high-precision key data, such as time stamp information, eye drop point, eye position and pupil diameter, through eye-tracking technology represented by the above method.
Then, through the detection and systematic analysis of these key data, the product can know what the eyes are looking at and then parse what the human brain is trying to do.
But while the technology has the potential to evolve into a new era of "mind reading," even at its current level of development, it's not easy for companies to really master it. Enterprises not only need to be proficient in image vision, but also need to have in-depth research on the principles of human visual nerve and brain control, so as to further explore the value of this technology and promote practical application.
Where is eye tracking used?
As mentioned above, eye tracking technology can obtain the fixation sites of the eyes through real-time monitoring of the state of the eyes, and then infer the intention of the brain.
At present, people in daily activities, can not leave the mouth to communicate, with the hand to operate. It is foreseeable that many related industries will be revolutionized when eye tracking technology enables the eyes to replace the functions of the mouth and hands.
In fact, eye-tracking technology has made a number of breakthroughs in various industries in recent years. There are practical applications in mixed reality (MR), medical, automotive, retail, accessibility and other fields.
In MR, eye-tracking technology is addressing the problem of vertigo that MR headsets have been criticized for years.
Before that, the multi-generation MR head display products of many large manufacturers, after the user wears, often produce a certain sense of vertigo, this is because the video picture that the eyes see does not match the feeling of the body, and the brain feels confused. The confusion of the brain extends to the whole body, giving users of MR head-display products a dizzy effect.
Vertigo seriously detracted from the experience of the device, which left many consumers who would otherwise have bought MR products in doubt and hindered the further growth of the MR industry over the past few years.
Eye movement tracking technology can obtain the real fixation point of human eyes, so as to obtain the viewpoint position of virtual objects, which is similar to the principle of daily work of human eyes.
Therefore, the probability of vertigo and low immersion will be greatly reduced in AR/VR products supported by eye-movement tracking technology compared with previous head-display. In March, an industry insider previewed SONY's EYE-tracking PSVR 2, saying it had improved vertigo and smoothness compared to its predecessor, and that "the world is not the same after playing it."
Bringing people a sense of immersion and experience different from the real world is the source of the wonderful future described by the metasomes. Driven by eye tracking technology, MR products are also providing a better entrance for people yearning for the metasomes.
But the application of MR products is not only the full value of eye-tracking technology.
In the field of marketing, through the function of measuring visual attention through eye movement tracking, marketing agents can more accurately interpret user behavior. Because eye-tracking technology can objectively monitor the focus of people's visual attention. This is crucial for packaging design, product layout and product presentation optimization.
The packaging of Pop Tarts Bites is designed to use visual marketing techniques to boost the brand's total sales by 18%.
Pop Tarts Bites packaging
In the field of education and training, eye-tracking technology provides a new and more effective idea for the online teaching model promoted by the epidemic.
Forced by the pandemic to adopt an online teaching model, Dr. Douglas used a Miya model to combine eye-tracking technology with actual teaching methods to teach surgeries in a simulated environment rather than on patients, and to assess students' skills with eye tracking devices.
In the automotive field, eye tracking technology also plays an important role in identifying problems such as tired driving and distracted driving. Eye movement tracking technology can track and judge the driver's concentration in time, and continuously remind the driver to prevent fatigue driving.
A company called Seeing Machines, for the past few years, has also developed the ability to use eye-tracking technology and artificial intelligence to analyze the head, face and eyes of drivers in real time to identify drowsiness and distraction on the way. Significantly reduce the road traffic accident rate. It has provided the technology service for hundreds of automobile enterprises around the world.
In addition to scientific and commercial applications, eye-tracking technology could also allow people with disabilities to use their eyes to control computers and communicate with the outside world as information input. TD Pilot, an eye-tracking device from Tobii, helps people with disabilities navigate iPad apps, select targets, and even type and play games by moving their eyes.
Thus, eye tracking technology is already being used in a number of industries. The industry value of this technology is becoming more apparent. In the future, there will be more applications for eye-tracking technology as more and more scenarios are needed to replace hands with eyes.
The blue ocean of eye tracking in the future of the metasverse
With the development of the metaverse concept, things that exist in the real world will gradually be digitized, virtualized, and mapped to the virtual world. This "virtual" market is growing. MR devices such as AR/VR head display will also play an important role as the entrance to the virtual world.
According to the statistics of China Academy of Information and Communication technology, the global VR/AR market size in 2020 is about 90 billion yuan, among which the VR market size is 62 billion yuan and THE AR market size is 28 billion yuan. From 2020 to 20245, it is predicted that the average annual growth rate of the global virtual (augmented) reality industry will be about 54%, with THE growth rate of VR about 45% and AR about 66%. In 2024, the market size of the two will reach 240 billion yuan.
The huge MR market is ripe for rapid growth, with revenues from sensors that use gesture control and eye tracking approaching $5 billion, according to ABI Research.
As an integral part of MR devices, eye tracking technology is expected to achieve further breakthroughs in many aspects in the future, which will undoubtedly further expand the role of eye tracking technology in the metaverse.
For example, the optical systems in today's MR headsets do not yet allow dynamic focusing because headsets require an actuated zoom display. But the zoom display must be supported by eye-tracking technology, and the system needs to know exactly where the user's gaze is.
But with the development of eye-tracking technology, it is expected that future MR devices will be able to recognize the depth changes in the focus of the human eye, so that the focus will also change, and thus realize the dynamic focus of MR devices.
By using the eye tracking information in the MR device, the device can also perform "concave rendering" only to render those elements in the observed environment. This avoids GPU overloads due to excessive rendering resources, and precisely delivers a higher quality visual experience, leading to a more immersive metacosmic environment.
In addition, the tracking of vision by eye tracking could also help future devices such as special MR to better judge user intentions. Devices and systems will be able to plan users' next actions based on their gaze points and create more appropriate Settings for the metasurverse.
Eye movement tracking also has a promising application prospect for improving interaction efficiency. With the acceleration of operation speed and accuracy through eye movement tracking, users can also take the initiative to use their fixation points to complete various operation tasks in the real world and virtual world more easily.
Whether in remote surgery and remote driving in the real world, or in various operations in the virtual metaverse, the development of eye-tracking technology will bring more convenience to human beings.
Although the current market size of eye movement tracking is not comparable to the overall MR market, as a "precision scalpel" in MR and even meta-cosmic devices, it is destined to gain a broad development space with the development of MR and the evolution of the meta-universe in the future.
As Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus, said, "Eye tracking is the heart of the virtual world, and all future visual headsets will support it."
As the core of the entrance of the future meta-universe, eye tracking technology is destined to have a promising future in the broad market scale.
Write in the last
As the virtual reality industry continues to iterate and evolve, and the metasverse concept rises, MR devices are increasingly recognized as the next generation of computing platforms.
MR headsets are also moving in the direction of being lighter, thinner and more convenient. According to relevant statistics, MR headset is expected to sell more than 100 million units by 2025. In the future, the MR industry is expected to surpass smart phones and become portable computing terminals for everyone.
In the near future, we can expect to do more and more things with eye tracking technology on MR devices. For example, creation and design can operate the input through the eyes; Doctors can also perform delicate remote surgery with eye movement control using smart devices. Interacting with the virtual world will be as easy as making a phone call.
Controlling things with your eyes will no longer be just a dream, it will become part of your life. The future is here, the future is here. Eye tracking technology is liberating our hands. Can we be far behind when "eye control" replaces "hand control"?