Perceptive Devices and Tobii Dynavox Partnership Will Combine Facial Expression and Eye Tracking Technology
Perceptive Devices, a company specializing in hands-free and voice-free electronic devices, is partnering with eye tracking device maker Tobii Dynavox to develop a new generation of hands-free and voice-free control technology for those with physical disabilities.
Users of Tobii Dynavox products will now have the option of controlling their devices with Perceptive Devices’ head mouse and gesture control technology with face tracker, smile clicker, and dwell clicker. This enables pointing, clicking, dragging, and scrolling by using simple eye gazes, smiles, and gentle gestures.
Perceptive Devices’ Smyle Mouse software application is a next-generation head mouse technology that allows hands-free and voice-free control of Microsoft Windows devices by using a regular webcam to track users’ head motions and facial gestures. The software translates gestures into mouse commands for responsive mouse control.
Smyle Mouse users can initiate clicking, scrolling, and dragging, with simple smiles by using the smile gesture alone or combined with head motions, other facial expressions, and eye gaze.
Playing hands-free “Angry Birds” with Smyle Mouse software using head motions and a smile. (Courtesy of Perceptive Devices)
“Our technology can be very useful to millions of people around the world who experience difficulties in using their hands due to disabilities such as spinal cord injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, ALS, cerebral palsy and carpal tunnel syndrome,” Uday Parshionikar, founder and CEO of Perceptive Devices, said in a press release. “Pairing our facial expressions based head mouse control with Tobii’s gold standard eye tracking technology is a match made in heaven for users looking for a simple yet powerful hands-free and voice-free control solution.”
A global leader in eye tracking technology, Tobii Dynavox, a subsidiary of Swedish technology company Tobii AB, manufactures a range of electronic devices, software, and accessories, including desktop, laptop, and tablet computers designed explicitly for control by eye movement or touchscreen for users with special needs.
Under the terms of the partnership, Tobii Dynavox will begin installing a full version of Smyle Mouse on all of its I-Series products (such as its I-15+ and I-12+ products) in October 2017. A trial version of Smyle Mouse will be bundled with Tobii Dynavox’s Indi products and with its eye tracking technology.
A 14-day free trial of Smyle Mouse software for devices running Microsoft Windows 7 or above can be downloaded at: https://smylemouse.com.
