It goes without saying that superior hand-eye coordination is essential for athletes to perform at their best. But what if their eyes aren’t working as well as they could?
Consider eye-tracking technology as the solution.
RightEye LLC, a company that creates vision tests and optical training games through eye-tracking technology has announced its partnership with Tobii, which creates eye-tracking hardware and software used already in a large number of applications. The collaboration between RightEye and Tobii is designed to produce innovative hardware that works with RightEye’s existing vision tests and games for customers in sports, vision and health care markets.
Currently, Tobii’s technology is used in esports to show where gamers are looking on the screen, and recently, the release of F1 2017 included Tobii eye-tracking. RightEye will use the co-developed hardware to implement its proprietary interactive vision tests — for example, test-takers can shoot asteroids down with their eye movements — and then analyze those movements and determine any optical issues.
The eye-tracking tests could be particularly applicable to athletes, who depend on profound visual acuity to do their jobs. Eye-tracking could help them determine if they aren’t seeing as well as they could. And already, RightEye has a partnership with Major League Baseball and USA Baseball.
“We’re excited to be partnering with Tobii to advance our product and offer customers a more portable, integrated eye-tracking system to further enhance their users’ experience with RightEye tests and training games,” Adam Gross, the co-founder and CEO of RightEye, said in a statement. “RightEye is transforming health and vision care by giving doctors and coaches a better way to see how our eyes and brain are working together.
“This solution is unique because it offers a single platform that delivers a broad range of assessments using eye tracking, from screening for concussion and other brain health issues to identification of athletes’ vision strengths and weaknesses to detection of early indicators for autism and Parkinson’s disease, even flagging vision issues that may be impeding reading. As we keep developing and adding new tests and training games, this list will continue to grow.”
As part of the testing process, RightEye’s cloud-based software analyzes each eye movement and creates a detailed report that shares information on visual speed and accuracy, depth perception, processing, and the possible existence of dry-eye syndrome. Depth perception, processing, and visual speed are all integral to the vast majority of sports, including esports.
“At Tobii, a core part of our mission has always been to allow our customers to use eye tracking to improve the lives of people around the world. For more than a decade, we have served academic researchers with tools contributing to pioneering breakthroughs, and we have helped users of all ages communicate through our own eye-control solutions,” Tobii CEO Henrik Eskilsson said in a statement. ”
“We are very excited about the opportunity to expand the use of eye tracking into vision care and sports through the collaboration with RightEye.”
According to the announcement, the hardware that Tobii and RightEye will produce together will debut at CES Unveiled Las Vegas in early January, and the public can see what the two companies come up with during the main CES event, Jan. 9-12.
