German-based Semiconductor company Osram are going to be providing chips to Japanese virtual reality (VR) company FOVE to integrate eye-tracking into FOVE’s line of VR headsets.
Osram Opto Semiconductors will be providing Tiny infrared ChipLEDs in order to facilitate integrated eye-tracking into FOVE’s VR headset. Eye-tracking allows for eye-control, allowing users to select or interact with objects just by looking at them, and allows for increased realism by letting players make eye-contact with NPC characters. Eye tracking also allows for the use of a graphical technique called foveated rendering, which allows a VR system to only render the user’s current field of vision in full detail, allowing reduced detail in areas out of view, thus saving system resources and allowing for more realism.
“We chose Osram IR LEDs because they are high-quality products. They meet all our specifications. One of our main deciding factors was that very little light lies outside the central emission spectrum and is therefore lost, which meant we could streamline our optical filter design process and maximize our sensor performance,” said Lochlainn Wilson from FOVE.
“Through our collaboration with FOVE, we are the first supplier to provide an eye tracking solution for a VR headset,” said Eric Kuerzel, Product Marketing Manager at Osram Opto Semiconductors. “With its high efficiency and compact package, the SFH 4053 is ideal for this application.”
FOVE’s flagship VR headset, the FOVE 0, has been working with other technology companies such as AMD to perfect its headset, which is currently available as a development kit version. FOVE originally began as a Kickstarter project to create an eye-tracking VR headset, so the eye-tracking technology has been something the company has been keen to push from the very beginning.
VRFocus will bring you further information on FOVE and other VR hardware projects as it becomes available.