Fove head mounted display integrates eye-tracking technology

FOVE has announced the completion of an initial proof-of-concept of the world’s first consumer-oriented eye-tracking head-mount display, and is on track to release a developers’ kit in 2015.

The company was accepted into the Microsoft Ventures Accelerator programme in mid-July, and is the first Japanese company to enter the programme. FOVE said in a statement on July 25 US time that it will investigate possible future cooperation with Xbox due to its global market potential. In the meantime, the company is working on its prototype and expects to release preliminary details of its SDK during the Microsoft Ventures Accelerator Pitch day in December.

According to FOVE, its flagship product integrates a cutting-edge display, eye tracking, orientation sensing and head position tracking, allowing users to control a virtual world with their eyes. Instead of displaying a complete scene in sharp focus as existing virtual reality systems do, the FOVE hardware tracks the user’s gaze to determine where in 3D space a user is looking so as to adjust the focus and allocate rendering resources as appropriate.

The technology is ideal for quick, accurate interaction and control in 3D virtual environments such as games, as well as for the disabled or those who have communications difficulties, the company said.

The SDK is designed to create games based on FOVE’s eye tracking system, and the company is also talking to potential partners about arcade games and amusement park installations.

“We are negotiating possible distribution avenues in the South American and Southeast Asian markets,” the company said in the statement.