Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Specs for SMI GazeWear released

The specifications for the SMI GazeWear has just been announced. The head mounted tracker takes the shape of a pair of glasses and has a impressive set of features. It offers 30Hz binocular tracking (both eyes) at 0.5 deg accuracy with automatic parallax compensation for accurate gaze estimation over distances above 40cm. The dark pupil, corneal reflection based system has a tracking range of 70° horizontal / 55°. vertical angle. SMI has managed to squeeze in a HD scene camera located in the center of the frame which offers 1280x960 resolution at 30 frames per second. However, the viewing angle is slightly smaller than the tracking range at 63° horizontal and 41° vertical angle. The weight of the device is specified to 75 grams with the dimensions of 173x58x168mm (w/h/d) and is estimated to fit subjects above age 7.

SMI GazeWear
A mobile recording unit is offered which stores data on a SD card, weighs 420 grams, and has minimum of 40 minutes recording time. However, a subnotebook can be used to extend recording time towards two hours.   

With the new tracker SMI seriously improves their offering in the head mounted segment with a form factor that certainly appears more attractive to a wide range of applications. The specs stands up well against the Tobii glasses which has a similar form but is limited to monocular tracking and a lower resolution scene camera.  No details on availability is provided other than "coming soon", something we heard since late December. Once they are out the game is on. 

The flyer may be downloaded as pdf.

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