Eyefluence: Why The Creator Of Livescribe Is coming into VR

Jim Margraff isn’t your typical virtual truth CEO. the center-aged Silicon Valley entrepreneur is very best known as the creator of Livescribe, the “smart pen” that speedy built a cult following on school campuses, and as the creator of the LeapPad, the well-liked edutablet. Now, he’s turning his attention to a brand new invention: Hardware that lets customers keep an eye on digital fact environments with their eyes.

Eyefluence is a VR/AR startup that doesn’t wish to make its own headsets or glasses. as a substitute, Margraff says his firm’s hardware and software can bear in mind the intent at the back of a consumer’s gaze, allow them to keep watch over an surroundings with only their eye motions, and feed them related data robotically. He imagines it will be something that received’t just be for players—it’s an invention that will make the roles of EMTs, firefighters, manufacturing facility floor employees, and others so much more uncomplicated.

the corporate’s hope is to have virtual reality corporations license their technology and tool to be used in their very own merchandise. a number of traders have made considerable bets on the firm.

Intel Ventures invested within the agency in 2013, and Motorola Capital led a $14 million series B in 2015. Motorola’s funding is somewhat extraordinary: The fund, a made of Motorola’s company break up in the 2000s, essentially invests in know-how for legislation enforcement or public safety.

I was once fascinated about why a police tech project capital fund is investing in digital fact. the answer, it seems, pertains to the work of EMTs and the specific challenges of answering 911 calls, together with the on-the-job challenges of cops.

In a press liberate, Motorola solutions’ CTO Paul Steinberg wrote:

imagine if law enforcement officials may get data on an unfolding crime scene with out visibly shifting a muscle. as a substitute, they would use simplest the movement of their eyes behind sunglasses, leaving their heads up and their arms free to manage the scene and take fast action.

As for Eyefluence’s know-how, it tracks eye motions and makes use of them to keep an eye on cell functions. For now, Margraff believes the emphasis will be on place of job makes use of relatively than gaming. during our conversation, he informed me that “if you’re carrying a hose or wearing thick gloves, it’ll be tough to get admission to data on constructing format as an example with anything however your eyes.”

Eyefluence claims that interaction times for the eye controls can be measured within the tens of milliseconds. David Stiehr, the corporate’s cofounder, says they’re working with consumer electronics manufacturers and manufacturers of head-hooked up displays to figure out easy methods to integrate eye-tracking know-how into their merchandise. Eyefluence’s product is the expertise and accompanying algorithms which can be then licensed out; the company is also growing APIs (application Programming Interfaces) and SDKs (tool building Kits) for exterior builders to create new products. A proof-of-idea demo is shown in the clip above.

The technology itself is in accordance with research with the aid of Eye-Com, a company Margraff purchased in 2013. Eye-Com used to be firstly funded by the security division and different government companies; its product portfolio primarily focused on expertise to keep watch over wheelchairs with eye motions and for fatigue detection by means of eye motions. Eyefluence seems to be applying so much of the underlying know-how to a local that’s experiencing an financial increase in the interim—digital fact and augmented reality.

In demonstrations, Eyefluence is at the moment displaying its technology in modified variations of an Oculus headset and good glasses; Margraff says the company is planning for its know-how to be integrated into the subsequent era of digital truth and augmented fact merchandise.

a few of Silicon Valley’s giants might be paying consideration—startups based by Margraff are usually purchased by higher consumers: Livescribe was bought by way of rival Anoto in 2015 and LeapFrog creator LeapPad is at the moment in the middle of an acquisition by means of VTech.