Gamingdeputy reported on June 23 that Inseye plans to launch an eye-tracking accessory called Lumi, which is compatible with Meta Quest 2 and Quest 3 headsets and priced at US$160 (Gamingdeputy Note: currently about RMB 1,165), but the specific release date has not yet been announced.
Existing VR headsets with eye tracking, such as the Apple Vision Pro and PlayStation VR2, use infrared cameras with infrared LED illuminators to track the eyes. The tracking process relies on computer vision algorithms that analyze image frames to identify the position and size of the pupil.
Inseye Lumi's approach is quite different. It also uses infrared illuminators.But instead of a camera, it uses an array of six simple and cheap photoelectric sensors.These sensors can measure the reflection intensity of infrared light on the user's eyes. Since different parts of the eye reflect infrared light slightly differently, Inseye's neural network can determine the exact position of the pupil based on the intensity information detected by the photoelectric sensor.
Inseye claims that this method uses only one-fifth the power of camera-based eye tracking, can easily achieve a refresh rate of 1000Hz, and has a latency of less than 1 millisecond. In comparison, camera-based eye tracking usually has a refresh rate of 120Hz and a processing latency of tens of milliseconds.
Such high refresh rates and low latency mean that the gaze area in foveated rendering can be smaller.applications can provide higher gaze area resolution, better performance, or a balance between the two.
but,Inseye's solution is slightly inferior to the camera-based solution in terms of accuracyInseye claims an accuracy of about 2 degrees, while camera-based solutions can achieve less than 1 degree. This means it is not suitable for gaze tracking interfaces with very small elements, such as some application menus in visionOS. It also cannot provide data on the degree of pupil dilation, but this feature is currently rarely used in scenarios.
The $160 price tag is intended to allow Inseye Lumi to cover its development costs and make a reasonable profit, though Inseye says the photoelectric sensor and emitter itself only cost about $10.
Lumi connects to the Quest headset via a USB-C port and headphone jack, and supports USB-C adapters, allowing users to charge the headset and connect audio devices while using accessories.
It should be emphasized that Lumi is not a magic prop that can directly transform Quest 3 into Quest Pro 2. Applications need to integrate Inseye's SDK to use eye tracking. Therefore, Lumi is mainly suitable for the PC VR field. The open PC platform makes it easier for developers to integrate such accessories through standards such as OpenXR.
This eye tracking solution using photoelectric sensors may become a standard feature of VR headsets in the future. If the effect is good, we may see this technology in Meta Quest 4, and it may even become a way for future AR glasses to achieve eye tracking.
There is currently no confirmed release date for the Inseye Lumi, but users can pay a $1 “refundable deposit” and buy it for a discounted price of $100 when the product is released (if it is released).
Inseye also plans to offer prescription lenses that support Lumi, since Lumi itself does not support wearing glasses and is not compatible with existing Quest prescription lens solutions.
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