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 China latest time and visited the company, they let me see it on a desk, forecasting me its launch. That was the time when I shot this exclusive photo of it.
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 HTC, since this addon counts as another big pro side to HTC’s latest headset. I already praised the Cosmos for being a very versatile headset, with many accessories that can enhance its experience (e.g. SteamVR tracking plate, Vive Wireless Adapter, etc…) and now, thanks to 7Invensun, it also adds eye-tracking to its possible features. A feature that its main competitor Valve can’t offer yet.
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 a great news, because it means that my Vive Focus Plus, with just a little addition, can become a fully-portable eye-tracked headset. In the enterprise segment, the Focus Plus gains so a big advantage on the popular Oculus Quest (that is still far better for consumers, instead). Eye tracking is fundamental in enterprise because it can improve the training of the users (it lets the program understand what the users are looking at while they perform the actions, identifying if they weren’t attentive to important parts of the scene); it can help in offering better psychological treatments (eye data is very precious in this sense); it can help marketers in understanding user behaviors (they can see what the users are looking at, so what draws their attention), etc… Not to mention the fact that 7Invensun is one of the few brands allowing for iris recognition on its accessory: this means that you can use your eyes to unlock your headset. This may be very useful in security-critical companies… or at home to prevent other people to find the “secret videos” on your HMD 😀
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/￥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 innovators it is more than good to be used. I have already experimented in the creation of eye-tracked UIs with my team at NTW, and I can assure you that eye-tracking will be a game-changer for VR.
If you are a developer, it may interest you that you can develop for 7Invensun eye tracking device by just using the official Vive SRanipal SDK in Unity or Unreal. This means that if you develop an application for Cosmos+Droolon F1, it will work automatically in the same way for a user wearing a Vive Pro Eye, thanks to the cross-platformness of the SDK.
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 device, so that it can easily adapt to the eyes of every people. And changing the lenses is super fast and easy.
If you are intrigued like me for this device, well, you don’t have to wait that much: it can be preordered in November 2019 and it will start shipping in December. I explicitly asked 7Invensun if it will be in sale only in China and they told me that no, it will be a worldwide sale. If you want more info, you can check out 7Invensun website or contact directly the company. If you want me to do an introduction for you, feel free to ask, I will be happy to help you in connecting.
七鑫易维, 辛苦了!
(Header image by 7Invensun)