Image: Prophesee
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Tobii and Prophesee are working on event-based eye tracking for next-generation VR headsets and AR glasses. Here’s why it matters.
Tobii is the market leader in eye tracking technology. The Swedish company’s solutions are found in devices such as the HTC Vive Pro Eye, PlayStation VR2, Pimax Crystal, and Play for Dream MR.
Prophesee is a Paris-based startup that develops so-called event-based sensors.
Whereas a traditional image sensor captures full images at fixed intervals, an event-based sensor records only changes — such as brightness variations at individual pixels. Event-based sensors are mimicking how the human retina works, and offer exceptional energy and data efficiency, high precision, and ultra-low latency when used for eye tracking.
According to Prophesee’s official website, the technology delivers
- A sampling rate of over 1,000 Hz
- End-to-end latency of less than 1 ms
- Detection accuracy better than 1 degree
- Power consumption under 2 mW
- A data rate five times lower than that of image-based sensors
Next-Level Eye Tracking
Since most existing eye tracking solutions rely on infrared light and traditional image sensors, they fall significantly short of the potential that event-based sensors offer — particularly in terms of energy efficiency, latency, and data volume.
The fact that Tobii and Prophesee have now joined forces to bring this technology to market maturity is great news for the VR and AR industry. Standalone VR headsets, smart eyewear, and upcoming AR glasses desperately need eye tracking systems that operate more efficiently than current solutions.
In this context, Prophesee has already collaborated with Zinn Labs on an event-based eye tracking solution for such devices (see video below).
“Smart eyewear is one of the most demanding segments for eye tracking—requiring ultra-low power, high performance, and seamless integration into a standard glasses form factor,” said Emma Bauer, Senior Vice President, Integrations at Tobii. “Through partnering with Prophesee, we add event-based sensors as a complement to our existing camera technologies, giving our customers even more options and flexibility when designing their products.”
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