SensoMotoric Instruments (SMI) and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) discuss new augmented reality applications which trigger information by eye gaze. Eye tracking technology by SensoMotoric Instruments (SMI) was used by researchers from the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) to develop a vision of new augmented reality applications in mobile environments.

These applications use eye tracking data from SMI's mobile eye tracking glasses to analyze a user's eye gaze on objects, buildings or persons. A special DFKI information processing technology detects patterns of attention and presents additional information on objects of interest to the person wearing the glasses.  

 After the announcement of the Google glass project has stimulated the imagination of linking the virtual and physical world in everyday situations, the DFKI prototype now illustrates the feasibility of using eye tracking as an additional input mode for a new generation of smart glasses. At the CEBIT , March 5-8, visitors of the DFKI/SMI booth F50 in hall 9 will get a hands-on experience of the new technology, demonstrated in the form of an interactive tourist guide called Talking Places.

Talking Places illustrates a vision of an interactive user experience for visitors of a city. Instead of using a touch screen or another conventional input device, the eye gaze of a user and the field of view captured by the scene camera of the SMI Eye Tracking Glasses is used to identify architectural objects of interest visually or by geotagged data. Context-sensitive audio information on the objects viewed is then presented via earphones. At CEBIT, visitors can experience this new form of interaction exploring a miniature model of Kaiserslautern's St. Martins place.

 Another prototype application is a new interactive museum guide, which has already been tested at the German Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern (mpk). The DFKI Museum Guide 2.0 detects the specific art objects a visitor is looking at. The application then provides audio information on that object via earphones. In future application scenarios, the DFKI seeks to complement the acoustic information with graphical inserts by combining the SMI Eye Tracking Glasses with a head mounted display. 

 Dr. Thomas Kieninger, German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), said, "Artificial intelligence potentially adds value to many aspects of everyday life. We think that SMI Eye Tracking Glasses with their well-engineered technology are the ideal solution for our attention driven augmented reality applications."