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Virtual reality has been around for years, but it’s rapidly becoming more accessible. It’s also becoming more reliable and effective; businesses are quickly seeing the benefits. It’s no surprise then that worldwide enterprise VR hardware and software revenue is forecast to increase from $1.0 billion in 2018 to $12.6 billion annually by 2025. And that enterprise spending on VR/AR will be 35% greater than consumer spending on VR/AR entertainment by 2020, not including hardware-related revenues. It seems that VR is changing the face of enterprise.
Eye-tracking technology is not new either; it’s been used in medicine and aerospace for years. But it’s now hitting the big time in the world of VR. Why? Because it provides a whole new way to interact with VR content. And it enables improved privacy and security through retinal scanning and identification systems.
Eye-tracking capabilities are now being incorporated into headsets (eg, Vive Pro Eye or Varjo VR-1), and this market is predicted to grow. Market analysts forecast the global eye-tracking devices market to grow at a CAGR of 37% during the period 2018-2024 and is expected to reach $1.75 billion by 2025.
Eye-tracking is a sensor technology that enables a device to measure eye position and eye movement. It can determine where your attention is and what you are focusing on.
The Vive Pro Eye headset, geared towards enterprise when it launches in 2020, will give users greater accessibility, gaze-oriented menu navigation.’ Natively built into the headsets, small rings inside the goggles use light pulses to track where you are looking. The trackers can’t be felt at all, and this technology removes the need for controllers, voice commands or spatial computing – users can look at the object they wish to trigger an interaction with.
Eye-tracking makes it possible for developers to work on improving the graphics’ resolution without having to increase the GPU requirements; lower GPU loads but higher screen resolutions and refresh rates. This is done through foveated rendering. Foveated rendering works by only rendering the specific part of the screen where the user is currently looking in full resolution, in a similar way to how the human eye works. This means that the display will react to the eye by increasing the sharpness of the objects on which they are focusing, while reducing it in the periphery. This leads to crisper images, with neater visuals and less pixelation.
Eye-tracking also means lightning-quick reactions. According to Vive: ‘Simply look at your target and aim with precision. No need to even point with the controllers. Manoeuvres are faster and more intuitive than ever.’ Beneficial for gamers but also for business training programs.
Eye-tracking technology can also gather data on user behaviour. Take the Ovation VR training course, for example. Used as training for public speaking, the user is put in front of an audience to deliver a speech. At the end, they are given feedback on their gaze and speech, along with ways to improve. Beneficial for training and for education.
Essentially, eye-tracking analytics can provide valuable insights into the user. These insights can be used by designers to create future applications by gaining a true understanding of consumer behaviour. What are they focusing on? What got the biggest reactions, both positive and negative? What is really catching people’s eye? For marketers, this could be a game-changer.
Working in the same way as iris scanning and retinal identification, eye-tracking improves security and privacy by enabling users to set up multiple unique user profiles on one single headset.