Eye-Tracking: Travel the Web, Mouse-Free

According to a recent article in The Stanford Daily Online, a computer science doctoral student at Stanford has designed a system that enables users to interact with software using only their eyes. Called Gaze-enhanced User Interface Design (GUIDe), the system uses eye-tracking technology: infrared lights implanted in the computer shine into the user's eyes; a camera senses that reflection, and relays to the computer where the user is looking. Eye-tracking technology isn't new; it has been used in the past to help the disabled use computers, as well as to tell Web and software designers what users look at on the screen and for how long.

The Stanford doctoral student has developed approximately 10 unique applications for the technology. One such example is a password-entry system in which the user simply looks at the correct letters on an on-screen keyboard. Other examples include being able to scroll through text documents and navigate the Internet, hands free.

Tests have shown that the eye-tracking software is easy to learn and to use. With its current hefty price tag of $25,000, we won't be seeing it on equipment orders any time soon in the Libraries! However, the human benefits of such assistive technologies will surely spur continued development which in turn will lead to more realistic costs. For the full article, check here.