By PRINCE OSUAGWU

Samsung has announced a new, updated version of its eye-tracking mouse. Known as Eyecan+, the technology uses a combination of hardware and software to allow people living with disabilities, PLWD, to browse the web, as well as compose and edit documents.

While performing simple computing tasks comes naturally to most of us, they can present a real difficulty for those with a disability that impairs movement. Samsung’s Eyecan+ is designed to improve accessibility for those people, allowing them to navigate documents and the web without the use of a conventional mouse and keyboard.

The technology consists of a physical box that sits beneath the user’s display, and an onscreen user interface. The system wirelessly calibrates with the user’s eye movement, after which they can use the onscreen pop-up menu, selecting commands by looking at them, and executing them by blinking.

The UI consists of 18 different commands including scrolling, zooming, copying and pasting, and will remember eye characteristics, meaning that each user will only have to go through the calibration process once. If the preset commands don’t suit the needs of the user, custom inputs can be configured, and sensitivity can be adjusted.