7Invensun reveals high-quality eye-tracking VR accessory for only $149
Last week at a dedicated Vive X event, Chinese company 7Invensun has presented one of the most interesting eye tracking accessories to date. I haven’t managed to talk about it until now because of the posts I had to publish for Oculus Connect 6, but now that the hype for the Oculus Link is over, it’s time for me to inform you about this incredible news, with some exclusive photos and videos that you won’t find in other articles! 😉
7Invensun is one of the worldwide leaders for what concerns eye tracking. I think that in the realm of producers of eye tracking accessories for VR headsets, the European Tobii and the Chinese 7Invensun have currently the highest standards. I have been various times in their offices (they’ve become friend to me in the end ) and I have been able to try a lot of products of them, always appreciating their quality of work and their ability to adapt their eye-tracking technology to all the XR devices possible (tethered and standalone headsets, HoloLens 1, etc…).
But in all my tests, I had only been able to try devkits (like aGlass DK 2) and prototypes. Now finally, 7Invensun has released its first consumer-grade product: Droolon F1, and it promises to be one of the most interesting eye-tracking VR accessories to date, because of its versatility.
I have not been able to try this device, even if, actually, when I went to
As soon I will be able to try it (maybe in Nanchang in two weeks), I will let you know my impressions. For now, what amazes me of the Droolon F1 are mainly two features: versatility and price.
Droonlon F1 is super-versatile because it works with ALL virtual reality headsets by HTC. Not only the Vive and Vive Pro, that were already compatible with the previous aGlass DK 2 accessory, but also with the Vive Cosmos and the Vive Focus Plus.
The first compatibility was quite expected since the Vive Cosmos is the successor of the HTC Vive, and 7Invensun, being part of the Vive X incubator, is a partner of HTC’s.
I think that this partnership has become strategic for
The fact that you may improve your existing Cosmos and have not to buy a dedicated expensive eye-tracked headset like the Vive Pro Eye is surely great news for all us makers and developers that want to experiment with eye-tracking. I’ve already heard various developers that are interested in buying it.
The second compatibility, the one with the Vive Focus Plus, comes very unexpected: the first time that I visited the company, they made a prototype for the original Focus, but they had to break the shell of the device to implement it, so I thought it wouldn’t be possible to make an eye-tracking add-on for the Focus Plus. It seems that instead, this was possible.
For me, this is
Finally, it is possible to do all of that with a full 6DOF standalone headset. I envision a lot of interesting possibilities.
Regarding the price, 7Invensun has amazed me because this eye-tracking accessory costs only $149/ï¿¥1099. This price is ultra-accessible and will let all VR enthusiasts add eye tracking to their VR headsets with just a little effort. Finally, we have some democratization of eye-tracking technology. Yes, eye tracking may still not be 100% ready for consumers (there are still some glitches sometimes), but for us
If you are a developer, it may interest you that you can develop for
If you’re wondering if foveated rendering with this device is already possible, I can tell you that it is. I tried a foveated rendering demo in 7Invensun offices last year on a Vive Pro, and I verified that it works. Now that we have RTX cards (with VRS – Variable Rate Shading) and a new eye tracking device, I guess that it is even better.
For the most techie of you, it may be interesting to know that the device works at 120 or 240 Hz, frequencies that are good enough to detect eye blinks and fast eye movements. The error is below one degree of orientation. Its weight is only 60g.
The last mention for this device is for glass wearers. One of the greatest pain points of eye-tracking devices is that if you wear glasses, they may not work. That’s why 7Invensun has created a system to attach magnetical prescription lenses to its eye tracking
If you are intrigued like me for this device, well, you don’t have to
七鑫易维, 辛苦了!
(Header image by 7Invensun)
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