Tobii, HeadVantage To Offer Sports Fans ‘First Look’

The partnership will allow fans to view sporting events from their favourite athlete's point-of-view

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Published: September 14, 2022

Demond Cureton

Eye tracking solutions firm Tobii announced it had inked a major deal on Tuesday with US startup HeadVantage to provide athletes with cameras, sensors, and cutting-edge eye tracking technologies.

HeadVantage currently works with major sports entertainment firms such as NBC Sports and Sky Sports, and following its partnership with Tobii, the enterprise aims to offer fans views of athletes performing at sports games and understand their decisions while competing at matches.

The solution fits under headwear such as sports caps and helmets to track eye moments, measuring pupil diameter at over 100 times each second, the firm explained.

The Arlington, Virginia-based firm was picked to join Comcast’s NBCUniversal Sports Accelerator, leading to the deal with NBC Sports and allowing the firm to showcase its capabilities at the Professional Golfers Association’s (PGA) Korn Ferry Tour golf tournament.

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Instructors from the event used Tobii and HeadVantage’s solution to host golf lessons on NBC Sports Next’s GolfPass, and the deal has planned a future collaboration with Sky Sports for cricket matches, where players will use the technologies on their helmets to stream views for more than 1 billion viewers.

According to the Danderyd Municipality, Sweden-based enterprise, its eye-tracking and attention computing technologies have empowered global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), startups, and others. Tobii’s solutions have also been widely used for Pico Interactive and HTC VIVE headsets.

Comments, Accelerators, and Updates on Tobii’s Tracking Tools

Jay Hedley, HeadVantage Co-Founder and Chief Executive, said in a statement,

“Sports fans all over the world want more immersion, and we can bring that to the table, especially because of the integration with Tobii’s eye tracking technology.

Using the gear would offer audiences views “from [the athlete’s] vantage point” as well as their line of sight to provide “a differentiated way to both play and consume sports,” he concluded.

Tobii Chief Executive Anand Srivatsa added,

“This kind of partnership with an early-stage company showcases how Tobii’s eye tracking technology enables innovation. HeadVantage’s product also opens a whole new world of immersive experiences in sports, and it’s a tremendous value proposition. Tobii technology leadership also joined the company’s Advisory Board, and we will collaborate on use cases in the long term”

Jenna Kurath, Head of Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech, added that its accelerator programme leveraged Tobii and HeadVantages solutions to deliver engaging content to fans by “getting into the athlete’s mind” with eye-tracking tools.

She concluded, stating,

“We are excited to see what’s next for the team as they innovate and bring new storytelling capabilities to games and events around the world through partnerships with NBC Sports and Sky”

The announcement follows a major venture for HeadVantage after it was selected among 10 startups to enter the Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech Accelerator, which showcased demos from the participants at a Demo Day in late May this year.

Comcast picked the top 10 spots among 800 applicants from more than 44 countries. The 12-week programme would allow SportsTech to mentor each startup to develop innovative solutions to meet challenges in the industry, with major names such as the PGA Tour and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) advising the cohort along with partners NBC Sports, Sky Sports, NASCAR, and others.

The news comes after Tobii struck similar deals with major immersive firms in early July, namely with Sony Interactive Entertainment for its upcoming Playstation VR (PSVR) 2 headset.

The long-awaited device will feature Tobii’s eye-tracking tools for navigating immersive experiences without requiring input from physical controllers.

Speaking to XR Today in a July round table, Johan Hellqvist, Head of XR Segment at Tobii, explained that eye-tracking was “essential and foundational” to XR development as it measured numerous data sets from users to boost their interactions with machines.

He added the aim of virtual reality (VR) was “ultimate immersion” for users to navigate and experience creative content on “high-performance headsets” aimed at achieving optimal user experiences.

 

 

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