The Ultimate Guide to Comparing Eye and Hand Tracking Technologies

Just a few years ago, hand-to-eye tracking technology was pretty much unknown. There simply wasn’t the equipment around that would utilise such technology. But head-worn devices have changed all of that and now it is not only needed, but utterly essential. 

Optical eye tracking is a sensor technique that analyses and tracks the location and motion of the eyes. An eye tracker is a device used to determine the location or orientation of one’s gaze, sometimes referred to as the point of gaze.  The location of visual attention may be determined across different categories of stimuli. Commonly, a person whose visual perception is monitored focusses their attention on a stimulus that can manifest on a computer monitor, in a physical setting, or in a simulated reality. Eye tracking devices can function independently or be incorporated into other technologies, including XR headsets, personal computers, and automobiles (as components of automotive solutions).

There are a growing number of applications that exist for eye tracking technology, including scientific and medical research, accessibility for those with impairments, enhancement of driving safety, and augmentation of virtual reality and gaming experiences. The growth of VR/MR headsets is only really possible with hand to eye tracking technology. But what lies behind the technology and where is it all going to end up?

Eye to Hand Tracking Systems

The ability to have a more organic and user-friendly UI is one of the primary advantages of eye-tracking in MR systems. Users may engage with the virtual world by merely looking at items, eliminating the need for additional controls or gestures. This can improve the VR experience’s immersion and usability, particularly for inexperienced users.

Additionally, eye tracking can enhance VR applications’ visual performance. The VR system may reduce detail in places where the user is not looking while allocating more processing power to areas where the user is focussing by tracking where the user is looking. This may lead to enhanced performance and decreased latency, along with more realistic and detailed visuals.

If you are keen to involve hand-to-eye tracking systems within your project, what are your options? Well, there are several, depending upon what you want to get out of it.

What is the application?

Hand to eye tracking is becoming prevalent in a number of technical applications, from industrial to gaming, and your tracking choices are likely to be based on what you need it to do.

By monitoring a client’s every motion in real-time, eye- and hand-tracking technologies may help businesses provide outstanding customer experiences, whether it’s during an onboarding process, troubleshooting, or any other interaction. In addition, the biometric scanning capabilities of these technologies may greatly improve security. Enhancing the functionality of XR goggles with focused rendering is also possible with the use of eye and hand-tracking systems. But different tasks need different levels of accuracy, and an industrial use might require greater accuracy than gaming. Of course, accuracy comes at a cost, so don’t make something more complex than it needs to be. 

Does Your Software Match Your Hardware?

Not all MR hardware systems are equal and that can be important if you are considering employing eye-to hand systems. Today, most headsets have basic gesture tracking features as standard, but the quality of them can vary fairly considerably. You may find that they are insufficient for your needs. However, some vendors provide SDKs and tools that allow you to add or modify eye and hand tracking capabilities to your existing software, as long as you have the necessary sensors and base stations available in the hardware.  

You should look at different eye and hand-tracking technologies and also think about what kind of extended reality you want to use. VR is great for teaching and situations where you need to be completely immersed. However, augmented reality and mixed reality are great for customer service and working together when teams need to stay connected to the real world. Ultimately, you need your hardware to be capable of certain feats within the hardware, and you need to match software to be able to drive it.

Get Ready to Get Better.

Both hardware and software are evolving at a phenomenal rate, and you will want to build in as much future-proofing as possible. The major players in the field – Meta, Varjo, and Apple – are constantly building better systems that do more and embrace the eye-to-hand tracking ethos in a better, more realistic way. While you can’t hope to deliver a product now that will still be relevant in two years’ time, making the best system that you can will help fend off the ravages of obsolesce for as long as possible. However, like the major players in the field, you can plan your next system earlier, based on the development that you already have, and keep abreast of what is up and coming in eye-to hand tracking.

It is anticipated that eye-to-hand-tracking technology will play a significant part in the immersive experiences that are available today, since the market for this technology is projected to reach a value of $8,407 million by the year 2030. It is only via the upgrading of hardware and software by suppliers that this technology will continue to advance. More sophisticated tracking techniques, artificial intelligence, and geographical computing capabilities will be utilised by businesses in the future.

Now is the time to get onboard with this technology, and if you have an idea for a eye-to-hand application, but lack the technical expertise, come and chat to us at Unity Developers, and see how we can help your development.