Prophesee’s partner Zinn Labs announces event-based eye-tracking system for AI-enabled smart frames and VR/MR systems
Breakthrough event based eye tracking system leverages ultra-low-power, low-latency of event-based vision sensors from Prophesee enables new levels of intuitive, seamless user experiences
MENLO PARK, California – January 30, 2024 – Today, Zinn Labs is introducing the industry’s first event-based eye-tracking system for VR/MR headsets and smart frames. The core enabling feature of event-based sensing is the faster and more efficient capture of the relevant signals for eye tracking.
Kevin Boyle, CEO of Zinn Labs, explains, “Zinn Labs’ event-based gaze-tracking reduces bandwidth by two orders of magnitude compared to video-based solutions, allowing it to scale to previously impractical applications and form factors.”
The low compute footprint of Zinn Labs’ 3D gaze estimation gives it the flexibility to support low-power modes for use in smart wearables that look like normal eyewear. In other configurations, the gaze tracker can enable low-latency, slippage-robust tracking at speeds above 120 Hz for high-performance applications.
Gaze-tracking Applications
Smart eyewear is a rapidly emerging category that can serve as an always-there portal to access generative AI. The attention signal provided by gaze seamlessly connects AI output to the user’s intentions in a variety of application demos provided by Zinn Labs.
As AR and MR computing devices move toward increasingly more intuitive user interfaces, gaze tracking is a prerequisite for several component technologies. For example, gaze is the most natural method of interacting with the digital environment. Zinn Labs leverages the Prophesee GenX320 sensor to offer a high-refresh-rate and low-latency gaze-tracking solution that makes an attractive solution for those looking to push the boundaries of responsiveness and realism of head-worn display devices.
Zinn Labs DK1 available soon
The Zinn Labs DK1 Gaze-enabled Eyewear Platform is a development kit equipped with a binocular event-based gaze-tracking system and outward-facing world camera and is powered by Zinn Labs’ 3D gaze estimation algorithms. The DK1 is equipped with Prophesee GenX320 event-based Metavision® sensors, the smallest event-based sensors on the market.
“Frame-based acquisition techniques don’t meet the speed, low latency, size and power requirements of AR/MR wearables and headsets that are practical to use and provide a realistic user experience. Our GenX320 was developed specifically with these real-time and processing efficiency needs in mind, delivering the advantages of event-based vision to a wide range of products, such as those that will be enabled by Zinn Labs’ breakthrough AR/MR platform,” said Luca Verre, CEO and co-founder of Prophesee.
The DK1 supports sub-1°, slippage-robust gaze tracking accuracy and runs at 120 Hz with 10 ms end-to-end latency. The development kit comes with demo applications, such as the wearable AI assistant featured here, and can be used for performance evaluation or customer proof-of-concept integration projects.
Learn more at SPIE AR | VR | MR 2024
Zinn Labs will be presenting the technology and demonstrating the DK1 at SPIE AR | VR | MR 2024 on January 30th and 31st in San Francisco, CA. Check out www.zinnlabs.com for more information or contact info@zinnlabs.com to inquire about development kits and licensing.
ABOUT ZINN LABS
Zinn Labs, Inc. designs pupil and gaze tracking systems for head-worn devices, as well as novel user interfaces that only gaze can enable. Zinn Labs’ technologies combine cutting-edge computer vision research with a deep understanding of the human visual system and how user attention, captured through gaze, can bring a vision-first neural interface to a new generation of consumer devices.
ABOUT PROPHESEE
Prophesee is the inventor of the world’s most advanced neuromorphic vision systems.
The company developed a breakthrough Event-Based Vision approach to machine vision. This new vision category allows for significant reductions of power, latency and data processing requirements to reveal what was invisible to traditional frame-based sensors until now. Prophesee’s patented Metavision® sensors and algorithms mimic how the human eye and brain work to dramatically improve efficiency in areas such as autonomous vehicles, industrial automation, IoT, mobile and AR/VR.
Prophesee is based in Paris, with local offices in Grenoble, Shanghai, Tokyo and Silicon Valley. The company is driven by a team of more than 100 visionary engineers, holds more than 50 international patents and is backed by leading international equity and corporate investors including 360 Capital Partners, European Investment Bank, iBionext, Inno-Chip, Intel Capital, Renault Group, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, Sinovation, Supernova Invest, Xiaomi.
Learn more: www.prophesee.ai
