Tobii’s eye-tracking hardware and software has been making headlines for some time. It is apparently one of the most advanced eye-tracking systems that are currently available. And the promise and potential of Tobii’s products is evident from the fact that Intel has now decided to invest a huge $21 million in the company, hoping to bring the technology to personal computers one day.
According to the executives of Tobii, the company is still a few years away from the point where it can integrate Tobii’s eye-tracking technology into mainstream computers. But that timeline is dependent if ‘Tobii gets the right partners.’ Now, with Intel on board, things couldn’t have been more right for Tobii.
The company hasn’t revealed the entire details of the deal yet. But what we do know is that Ian Cooper, Investment Director at Intel Capital, will join the board at Tobii. The huge sum that Tobii has been able to secure from Intel will go to research and further development of Tobii’s eye-tracking software and hardware.
In the words of Joel Fisch, who is the Director of Business Development at Intel’s Architecture Development Group, ‘Eye-gaze tracking holds great promise as a novel method for user/machine interaction. Working closely with Tobii, we hope to bring the benefit of this new technology to personal computing.’
This is precisely what Tobii has been wanting. Now with Intel on board, Tobii has a real chance of having its eye-tracking technology integrated into mainstream computers within the next two, three years.
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