Eye-tracking game

How does the exhibit work?

Have a seat on the green cushion. A sphere appears in the centre of the screen. Look at the sphere until it explodes. Next comes a sphere in each corner of the screen. That's four in total. Do the same. Now the computer recognises your eye movements.

Try to collect the small balls by looking at them. Do this before the snake eats them. Sometimes a bomb can also be seen on the screen. Something special happens then. Play alone or challenge a brave opponent.

What is the science behind it?

Thanks to eye-tracking, you can play games with your eyes.

How it works? Simple: the technology illuminates your eyes with infrared light. That reflects on your eyes. You don't notice any of that yourself, because that kind of light is invisible to us. But the little camera pointed at your eyes can capture it. Based on that reflection, the game knows where you are looking at. Are you looking at the top left corner? Then the snake goes there too.

Imagine gaming in your room without hands. Then you finally don't have to interrupt your game to eat. Because that is now perfectly possible at the same time. We do advise you to stop playing for a while if you have to take a pee.

Eye-tracking for people with disabilities

Telling how you are doing, making a joke or asking for more explanation: we use words for that. But what if you can't talk? Then you can use eye-tracking. Via your eyes, you indicate the letters or words you need on a computer screen. And these can then be read out loud.

Eye-tracking for video games

Researchers looked at how to use eye-tracking to make video games harder or easier. Imagine: the enemy in the game always appears where you are not looking. Or on the contrary, he always appears to the place you do look at. Which one would you choose?