SensoMotoric Instruments (SMI), a specialist in eye tracking technology and application, has announced that it will open an office in San Francisco on January 1.
The new office will focus on eye tracking integration in consumer and industrial applications and position the firm closer to leading universities in scientific research eye tracking.
Having an office in California, the hub of high-tech businesses, allows SMI to lay a stronger focus on the growing opportunities with OEM partners in consumer and industrial gaze based interaction applications and with end users in scientific and research applications. The new presence will play an essential role in serving key SMI customers located at the West Coast including Stanford University, Google, Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, HP, Boeing, Sony, Qualcomm, and many more.
After selling its OEM Ophthalmic business unit to Alcon, a specialist in medical eye care, SensoMotoric Instruments has been growing rapidly. Two years ago, SMI revolutionised the way in which researchers gain insights into eye movements in real-world environments. This year, the eye tracking company further raised the bar and introduced SMI Eye Tracking Glasses 2.0 with a new Samsung Galaxy smartphone recorder. And besides academic and commercial research, there are fascinating new applications for SMI’s mobile eye tracking glasses by combining gaze interaction with a new generation of head-mounted displays as Google Glass and others.
Using the eyes to interact with games, consumer and industrial applications creates entirely new user experiences. SMI’s flexible contact free eye tracking platform has gained the confidence of global players who seek to integrate gaze interaction technology into consumer devices such as tablets and into assistive and industrial applications. Recently, Sony’s Magic Labs announced that they use SMI RED-oem eye tracking to develop new gaze interaction game concepts for the PlayStation 4.
Eberhard Schmidt, MD of SMI, said: "The last 12 months have been remarkably dynamic for SMI. We continued to push the envelope in all directions: New products and technologies, new partners, new applications driving a continuously and profitably growing business. We have very strong networks in the Bay Area and the new office will help us further expand them. We are very grateful for the strong interest from customers and the focus and energy of our team to satisfy it."
