John Elvesjö (l) and Mårten Skogö (r), together with Henrik Eskilsson and a team of engineers and scientists, developed Tobii’s revolutionary eye-tracking system. Their system is capable of recognizing the position and gaze point of the pupils and interpreting it in real time. Eye tracking facilitates touchless human-machine interaction, with eyes controlling computers and computer applications.
MUNICH/STOCKHOLM—The European Patent Office (EPO) has named John Elvesjö and Mårten Skogö, who together with Henrik Eskilsson invented Tobii eye tracking technology, as one of three finalists for the European Inventor Award 2015 in the category “Small and medium-sized enterprises.” The winners of the 10th edition of the annual innovation prize were announced at a ceremony in Paris on June 11. Results were not available at presstime.

“With their invention, Elvesjö and his team prove that developing an innovative technology can have a major impact on large parts of society,” said EPO president Benoît Battistelli, announcing the finalists of this year’s award. “Eye tracking opens up new and groundbreaking possibilities for the interaction between humans and machines. One small eye movement is enough to trigger computer-operated actions and to facilitate communication, creating completely new perspectives in professional and recreational life.”

The eye tracking technology is groundbreaking in a number of ways: It can return the power of communication to people whose communication abilities are severely restricted because of physical and mental disabilities. They interact with speech-generating systems by eye movement and thus, can communicate with their environment. “We realized early on that there were a huge number of different applications where eye tracking could be used and already in the beginning we decided that communication devices for individuals with disabilities was an area where we really wanted to make a difference,” said Skogö. For instance, eye tracking is ideal for patients with Rett syndrome, a movement disorder that affects patients’ ability to speak, walk and use their hands. Eye tracking can be deployed to analyze how they look at the world. Patients with the degenerative disease of the motor system Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), such as physicist Stephen Hawking, can use new and sophisticated ways of communication.

A completely different application of eye tracking can be found in market research: Wearable retina-tracking eyeglasses allow for real-time analysis while a person is shopping online or in a store. This helps companies better understand how a consumer’s eyes move from one product display to another and allows researchers to identify a display’s ideal characteristics for capturing the attention of shoppers in different demographic target groups.

The technology can be deployed in numerous other areas: Eye tracking can potentially be used in any interaction involving a computer. This could be related to vehicles, mobile phones and tablets or TVs and similar devices. The technology is also used in computing and game play, creating whole new experiences for gamers. Many activities, such as scrolling down the screen or zooming, could be eye-controlled. Eye tracking also finds its use in medicine: Surgeons in operating theatres can access information on a computer without compromising their hands’ sterility. “I’m sure that within 10 years we’ll see eye tracking as a natural part of every cellphone, every car, computer and television,” said Elvesjö.

akarp@jobson.com