People who are differently abled, especially those living with conditions like ALS( amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a neuro muscular disease, will soon be able to operate the computers with the help of their eyes. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella made an announcement that Windows 10 will include built-in-eye tracking support. The innovative stems from a winning entry, Eye Gaze Wheelchair, at Microsoft's first Hackathon in 2014.
The entry was inspired by an email sent by a former NFL player Steve Gleason, who has ALS. He challenged researchers to come up with a technology that would help people like him. For most people with ALS, eyes are the only muscles that are not affected.
Microsoft team worked to come up with a feature called Eye control, which enables people to operate an on-screen mouse, a keyboard and text to speech experience, using only their eyes, says a post on the Microsoft Accessibility Blog.
"The experience requires a compatible eye tracker, like the Tobii 4C, which unlocks access to the Windows Operating system to be able to do tasks one can previously accomplish with a physical mouse and keyboard," it says.
Here is the video illustrating the Tobii 4C eye tracker.
