Tobii Partnership Advances Next-Gen Eye-Tracking Technology in XR Headsets

Alright, so you know how Tobii, the eye-tracking people, they’re like teaming up with this other company, Prophesee? It’s kinda wild. Prophesee’s tech is all about mimicking how our eyes work, capturing just the changes in view—like light flickers or movement—rather than recording everything like a regular camera. Saves power or something. They’ve done stuff with self-driving cars and industrial machines. Now, they’re diving into the whole AR/VR scene with Tobii. Quite the leap, huh?

So, Tobii’s thrown their lot in with Prophesee’s tech to cook up this speedy and energy-saving eye-tracking setup. Y’know, the sort of thing you’d cram into smart glasses? Small, battery-powered, but still gotta track your gaze without a hitch. Honestly, I wonder if it’s like looking through the eyes of a sci-fi character.

Luca Verre, the guy steering the ship over at Prophesee, seems pretty jazzed. He’s all about the “low-power, always-on” thing for future wearables. And he’s hyping up the whole partnership—suggesting they’re setting new standards. High hopes, I guess.

Emma Bauer from Tobii has some thoughts too. She throws in that smart glasses need to balance high performance with the need to fit into a regular glasses shape. Sounds tricky, right? I mean, she describes them as demanding. Makes you think about all the gizmos they’re squeezing in those lenses.

Oh, and did you know Tobii’s got its fingers in all sorts of VR pies? Their eye-tracking is in everything from the PlayStation VR 2 to some headsets I’d never heard of. They’re not new to the game, that’s for sure. But now, adding Prophesee’s sensors into the mix, the options for designers just got broader, according to Bauer.

Anyway, Prophesee’s tech is apparently the bee’s knees for foveated rendering and social VR—which sounds fancy but probably just means more immersive stuff. Tobii’s place in the VR headset world seems set to get even bigger. Who knows where this goes next…