Meet FOVE 0, The First Virtual Reality Headset That Tracks Your Eye Movements

By Zulai Serrano Published 11/01/16 EDT

There’s one thing the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR all have in common, which is the lack of fluidity in your movements. You must turn your head to peek around a corner and adjust your body accordingly. Virtual reality (VR) headsets are close to giving gamers a fully immersive experience, but there are still ways developers can push the boundaries between what’s real and what’s augmented.

Yuka Kojima, CEO and co-founder of FOVE, wants to change the way VR headsets work. The FOVE 0 headset works by using infrared light to track your pupils. The technology works by using low power IR emitters and two very fast infrared cameras (one for each eye) to track the player’s gaze. It would be the first headset of its kind to include eye-tracking technology, with the intent of creating a more fluid experience compared to other VR headsets.

“At FOVE, we’d like to bring human emotion into VR,” Kojima told iDigitalTimes. “Before founding this VR start-up, I was interested in developing a game that incorporated eye contact as a form of communication between characters. Game communication is currently so limited, usually the only thing we can do is type into a text window. I want players to be able to communicate by using their eyes and in the future laugh with each other. VR is the best tool to make players perceive game characters as real. That’s how [Lochlainn Wilson], my co-founder, and I came up with the idea to make an eye-tracking VR headset.”

FOVE 0 won’t eliminate your motion-sickness troubles, but it will likely help. The point of eye-tracking in a VR headset is it will help developers adjust depth of field effects in their games. The better the depth of field, the more natural your movements will feel in VR. Right now, most VR games contain fully rendered graphics in a sharp focus. There’s no distinction in focus between something that’s far or near.

FOVE 0 is the first headset to track user's eye movements. FOVE

“Unlike FOVE 0, VR headsets like the Rift, Vive or PSVR can only track your head movements, not your eyes. FOVE 0 is the next-generation of VR devices. By tracking both eye and head movements, FOVE 0 empowers developers and creatives to make content that is more natural and engaging than standard VR,” Kojima said.

Like the Rift, Vive or PSVR, gamers will need a beast of a PC to run FOVE 0. Kojima confirmed “a powerful CPU and graphics card” would be necessary “to properly take advantage of our high resolution screen, low latency and fast eye-tracking.” FOVE 0 will also support Valve’s OVR, which gives users access to 250 titles available in Steam’s library. FOVE 0 has also partnered with TechnoBlood to provide VR headsets for free to internet cafes in Japan and South Korea, to give gamers the opportunity to enter VR headset.

“A lot of VR fans have asked for eye tracking capabilities and we at FOVE believe that the future will be determined by the imagination of the developers. Let’s push the boundaries of what is possible in VR as pioneers together,” Kojima said.

Interested in checking out the FOVE 0? Pre-orders for FOVE 0 will Nov. 2 on the company’s official website, www.getfove.com. You can also follow FOVE on Twitter and Facebook for more updates. Check out the official product specs for FOVE 0 below.

FOVE 0 Specs*

Display: WQHD OLED (2560 x 1440)
Display frame rate: 70Hz
Field of view: 90° ~ 100°
Tracking sensor: Orientation tracking, Position tracking
Eye tracking sensor: 120fps infrared eye tracking system x2, less than 1° accuracy
Weight: 520g
Connections: HDMI 1.4 / USB 3.0 / USB 2.0
Accessories: Position tracking camera / Face cushion

*Product specs are subject to change without notice.

FOVE 0 Minimum Hardware Requirements