Tobii Pro launches its next generation of wearable eye tracker – the Tobii Pro Glasses 3

In Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality News

June 2, 2020 – Tobii Pro, a division of Tobii Group, which provides eye tracking technology solutions, has today launched its Tobii Pro Glasses 3 – the company’s next-generation of wearable eye tracker built for measuring attention in any real-world scenario. Tobii’s eye-tracking technology is used in augmented reality glasses, as well as several virtual reality HMDs, such as the Pico Neo 2 Eye model, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2 5G Reference Design, and the StarVR One headset.

Today’s newly announced Tobii Pro Glasses 3, which are designed specifically for business and research purposes, feature the company’s proprietary eye tracking technology, which integrates cameras and illuminators inside the glass itself, enabling a combination of eye tracking performance in dynamic environments with an unobtrusive design, according to Tobii. This is also combined with an improved wide-angle scene camera that captures more of the surrounding environment. Together with Tobii Pro’s software and services, Pro Glasses 3 represent the company’s most capable and most advanced wearable eye tracking solution available for critical real-world research.

Tobii Pro Glasses 3 collects eye tracking data on a wearer’s visual attention pattern and records a video of the surrounding environment with sound. When the data is analyzed, users can draw conclusions on what drives behaviors and decision making. For the wearer, the eye tracking technology in Pro Glasses 3 is virtually invisible. The experience is exactly like putting on and wearing a standard pair of eyeglasses.

“For the last ten years our scientific and commercial customers have utilized our wearable eye trackers in their quest to understand the why behind human behavior. Tobii Pro Glasses 3 is our flagship product and with the new revolutionary design and tech innovations we are making it easier than ever to study behavior in real contexts”, said Tom Englund, Division CEO, Tobii Pro.

“The scene camera’s increased field of view in Tobii Pro Glasses 3 makes a major difference when conducting wayfinding research, especially in an outdoor environment where, with a narrower field of view, we would lose track of the gaze data. I am also pleased to see how well the calibration worked, both at dusk and in sunlight, something of major importance to maintain the calibration between different levels of illumination. The design of Pro Glasses 3 is very comfortable, making them unobtrusive to wear which is an important factor to collect unbiased insights”, says Professor Barbara Chaparro, who leads the Research in User eXperience Lab at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Building on the experience from the wide usage of its predecessors, technical features and benefits of Tobii Pro Glasses 3 include:

• Integration of four, extremely small, eye cameras and 16 illuminators into the lenses, which provide improved eye tracking performance, but do not obstruct the wearer’s field of view;
• Wide-angle scene camera which captures more of the surrounding environment;
• App controller capable of running on Android and Windows devices allows for wireless control of recordings;
• Eye tracking data is collected at 50 or 100 hertz and slippage compensation technology enables consistent eye tracking data throughout recordings, even if the glasses move on the user’s head, or are taken off;
• Accessory kit that includes add-on IR blocking safety lenses supporting research in outdoor/bright environments, as well as situations requiring eye protection;
• New design allows Tobii Pro Glasses 3 to be worn under personal protective equipment (PPE) such as helmets and headgear, which facilitates a wide range of occupational and research settings.

Although not strictly an AR/VR device itself, the eye tracking technology used in Tobii’s Pro Glasses 3 has several use cases across the AR/VR industry, and can also be applied to various areas of research, including scientific, consumer insight, and user experience, as well as assist with operational procedures to help workers see each other’s view from a first-person perspective. However, the Tobii Pro Glasses 3 themselves are designed specifically for business and research use, and do not have any AR functionality.

Video credit: Tobii

About the author

Sam Sprigg

Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.