Tobii Gaze Application Wins Microsoft Award

Stockholm, April 27, 2012 – Tobii Technology, the global leader in eye tracking and gaze interaction, has been awarded a 2012 Microsoft Award in the client category for its revolutionary new Tobii Gaze Selection application. Award winners were announced at Microsoft’s Tech Days 2012 developer conference in Sweden on April 25.

The award-winning Tobii Gaze Selection is a feature of the Tobii Windows Control software application for hands-free access to Windows. Tobii’s best-in-class eye-tracking hardware—including Tobii PCEye—is used in combination with this innovative, Tobii-developed interface based on Microsoft core software technology. The feature has been developed specifically for people who, because of disabilities, can’t use a keyboard or a mouse, and therefore rely entirely on gaze, commonly referred to as eye-control, to access a computer.

“For a person who is challenged with limb paralysis or limb loss due to an injury or disease, the ability to operate a computer is of profound importance to their emotional and physical rehabilitation process. By being able to access  a computer, a person can reconnect with their world and more quickly regain some level of independence after traumatic injuries,” said Henrik Eskilsson, CEO of Tobii Technology. “The goal is ultimately about providing a better quality of life.”

Tobii Gaze Selection will give computer users with limited ability to use their hands a faster, more intuitive and more accurate way of using eye gaze to pinpoint a selection on a computer screen and interact with and control a computer. Tobii Gaze Selection was released as an internal Beta in March 2012 and has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from early users. It will be publicly released later this year.

The Microsoft Awards highlights major technological innovations for business and consumer applications in four categories: Client, Web, Phone and Cloud.