The system, which eBay is calling HeadGaze, seems to work similarly to eye tracking, although it would understandably be less precise than a fully featured eye-tracking kit. Given its primary business of helping people sell products online, eBay’s demo video illustrates how HeadGaze can be used to do hands-free online shopping, and just glancing at certain parts of the iPhone screen can progress through the checkout flow.
The technology was created by a team of eBay interns led by Muratcan Cicek, a software engineer and PhD student who uses assistive technology as an aid for his motor impairment disability. In that sense, HeadGaze — and the shopping app Cicek created, called HeadSwipe — could be a very useful piece of technology for people with disabilities who are looking for a more accessible way to use mobile devices.
“In addition to this head gazing experience, we’re exploring an experience that tracks eye movements,” Cicek writes in a blog post about HeadGaze. “The fusion of these gazing experiences open up a broader possibility on defining various hands-free gestures, enabling much more interesting applications.” Given its utility to those with disabilities, eBay has decided to release both HeadGaze and HeadSwipe as an open-source project on GitHub so that other app makers can implement Cicek’s technology into their own products.
