Eyeglasses have undergone more technology advancements in the past 10 years than any other decade since they were invented in 1252. PixelOptics developed glasses that can be electronically adjusted by users. There’s Google Glass, which is giving rise to all sorts of different smart glass applications in healthcare. There are even glasses that can help blind people see and for those affected by certain types of color blindness. But one company has developed smart glasses that can track what the wearer is looking at in real-time that could have implications for psychological research and other healthcare applications.
Tobii Technology developed a new version of its smart glasses. They have a live viewing feature that allows researchers to watch a video stream of exactly what a person is looking at, wirelessly and in real-time, while the wearer moves around freely in any environment, according to the company. The tracking data from the glasses can also be analyzed to detect patterns.
Although the most obvious applications come from the consumer product and retail industry — which items on the shelf capture the shopper’s gaze and for how long — it could also be used to assess cognitive understanding and physical capabilities. I imagine it could be a neat way to track a patient’s recovery from surgery or, say, a stroke or deterioration.
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It could also have some interesting medical education applications as well, for surgery, for example.
Developers will gain access to the technology in October, according to Mashable. That will clear the way for it to be embedded in other wearables technology.
The downside is they’re not exactly cheap — especially for a package that lets users mine the tracking data from the glasses to the tune of $29,900.
