Lenovo Eyes Future with Eye-Tracking Technology for Laptops

Prototype Lenovo Laptop Gazes into Future with Eye-Tracking Technology

Lenovo’s done it again with one of their latest innovations – an eye-controlled laptop.

The laptop prototype is the result of collaboration between Lenovo and Tobii, a leader in the field of eye-tracking technology.

The laptop with this new, integrated eye-tracking technology made its official debut this week at CeBIT in Hannover, March 1-5. CeBIT is considered the digital industry’s largest international event, and it features keynote speakers from many of the market’s leaders.

Using a black bar similar to what the Nintendo Wii uses, tiny cameras track user eye movements in order to point, select and scroll. As the eye-tracking capability is designed for integration with Windows software, this is a trend we can expect to transcend platforms.

According to officials at Tobii, this truly natural interface has great implications for the future. Henrik Eskilsson, the company’s CEO, said, “More than anything else, the Tobii laptop prototype is proof that our eye tracking technology is mature enough to be used in standard computer interfaces. To reach a state where the technology is part of the average computer, we need to make it smaller and cheaper. We believe that this can be realized in a couple of years by partnering with the right manufacturer.

And that “right manufacturer” in Tobii’s eyes seems to be Lenovo, as Eskilsson emphasized. “We have Lenovo, a great partner, representing industry-leading expertise in computer manufacturing and hardware development.”

While this breakthrough laptop technology has great implications for Lenovo and Tobii, the full scope of this development cannot be realized unless one considers the implications for other device markets.

This laptop is the first of its kind, but it represents a new wave of development for manufacturers. Once one does it – the others follow suit – and we can expect eye-tracking tech to feed over to mobile devices, desktops, smartphones, tablet PCs and other consumer electronics.

Here at Vernon Computer Source, we are proud to be one of the world’s leading distributors of Lenovo laptops. In fact, in 2010, we won Lenovo’s prestigious “2010 Distinguished Supplier” award. We stand behind the company’s vision for the future, and look forward to providing all of their latest products to our corporate customers.

For a quote on nearly any Lenovo laptop rental (although we don’t have these eye-tracking enabled devices… yet) come visit our website for a FlexQuote.